#so they have tons and tons of softness surrounding them to safely make the trip^^

[moonsinkfoxgirl]

kind of jealous that my girls get to be lovingly tucked into soft plastic to sleep in a box, meanwhile I have to take a train 😔

[dirtysvthoughts]

strawberry icing on your lips 🍓 - svthub valentine’s day collab

tags/warnings: fluff for the first half, smut for the second half, a bit of pwp, boyfriend! shua, female! reader, baking at home, lots of kissing, fingering, nana tour inspired, shua’s kinda a flirt in this one heh

word count: 1.45k

notes: hey besties! happy love day and i’m beyond excited to share my first svthub collab work! this valentine’s day collab was hosted by the amazing @wongyuseokie thank you supporting us! 🥰 please check out the other author’s works as well! :) this is my next biggest work for shua after private dancer, so i hope you all enjoy! to my lovely valentine @gyuhanniescarat i hope you enjoy reading and i love you have a safe and beautiful valentine’s day & carat day! 🥰

“okay, flour, eggs, milk.. what else are missing?” you ask observing the ingredients in front of you, moving them around to make sure nothing was hidden.

“are the strawberries on the table? oh man, we almost forgot the butter too!” your boyfriend remembers walking to the fridge, reaching for the said items.

you and your boyfriend joshua have been together for three years and the two valentine’s days you’ve spent together have been nothing short of wonderful. for the past two years, you’ve gone out on valentine’s day, but after he came back from a recent europe trip, both of you decided to stay at home this year. you wanted to give him some time to relax and get readjusted to being back at home.

in recounting his europe adventures, he told the story of the time he took a cooking class in rome. he made four different pastas from scratch, all with delicious sauces and wine pairings. hearing joshua tell you of his experience with the excitement and joy made your heart swell, which led you to an idea.

“hey josh, instead of going out this year, why don’t we make our own dinner at home? it sounds like a lot of fun from what you just told me. ooh! we could even bake something too! i’ve been looking at a ton of new recipes lately!”

your boyfriend sweetly laughs at your enthusiasm and kisses your forehead, “let’s do it then! we’ll have a nice candlelit dinner at home this year.”

back in the present, you two have finally gathered all the ingredients to get started with your dessert course - vanilla cookies with a strawberry cream icing. since dinner wouldn’t take as long to make, you decided to get the dessert portion out of the way first.

“hmm let’s see, i’ll work on the flour mixture first, do you wanna work on the icing?” you ask joshua, setting the stainless steel bowls out on the counter. “sure! can you pass me the heavy cream and sugar?”

soon, a comfortable silence surrounds the kitchen, the two of you working side by side, mixing and whisking ingredients together. there is one moment where you accidentally reach for the butter at the same time, gently laughing together as joshua rubs your hand, admiring your soft, delicate skin. you can’t help but blush at the feeling of his hand on top of yours.

more time passes and now, you’re working on molding the shape of the cookies together. joshua is just about done with the icing as well, testing the ribbons of cream as it drips off the whisk and back into the bowl.

“babe,” he turns his head toward you, still focused on flattening what is now your sixth cookie. you hum in response, not looking up just yet. “can you taste the icing for me? i think it’s done, but it might be missing something.”

you finish molding your cookie and quickly grab a spoon from your utensil drawer. you scoop a small bit of icing on the edge of the spoon, nearly melting at the sweet taste and smooth texture of the icing dancing across your mouth.

“josh, this tastes so good!” you exclaim happily, scraping a bigger spoonful this time, giddy as ever as you put the spoon to your mouth again, loving how everything combined to make such a delicious icing. “you did amazing baby! it has the right of amount of sweetness and everything!”

this time, joshua can’t help but blush at your continuous flow of praise, but he also couldn’t help but get hot from watching you taste the icing - your cute lips pressing together and the humming you made the second time you taste tested was not helping the rush of blood that went down to his body.

joshua quickly notices that you have a little speck of icing left on your lips, quickly seizing it as an opportunity to give into temptation and get his hands on you.

“hey baby, you have a little something right-“ he drags out the last word as he holds your jaw with his right thumb gently, his soft, gentle lips meeting yours. the kiss takes you by surprise, but you quickly melt into your boyfriend’s touch as you tilt your head to give him more access inside of you. the two of you establish a rhythm for a few moments until you pull away first, slightly breathless and a pleasant, heavenly daze taking over your body.

“there,” joshua finishes, chuckling as he holds you by your waist, lifting you up so you can sit on the edge of the counter. he swipes his left thumb across your lips and licks his own while you watch, the motion sending arousal down your spine.

he doesn’t hesitate to kiss your neck soon after, quietly moaning as his lips nibbled on your body’s sensitive spots. you push your bowl full of cookie dough to the side as joshua’s hands come underneath your tank top, roaming your soft skin.

with ease, he takes off the piece of clothing, lips moving from your neck to the center of your chest. this time joshua becomes bolder, letting his tongue get some action as he licks and sucks on the space between your breasts.

“sh-shua.. shua, o-ohhh,” you moan out louder this time, wanting him to hear how good he’s making you feel. you’re so caught up in the pleasure that he was giving your chest that you don’t even notice his fingertips walking along your thighs, then underneath your skirt - and eventually to your panty line.

before you can even say anything, joshua’s fingers pull the waistband back and let it go, snapping against your waist. you gals and bite your lip in pleasure as your body goes slightly forward and joshua smirks in return. his fingers continue to tease at your panties, the pink lace nearly making him form heart eyes in front of you.

“you’re so pretty for me,” he breathes out, dragging your panties to the side with two fingers. “always, so, so pretty,” he repeats as he slowly inserts another two fingers inside of your core, chuckling at how wet you already are.

“coating my fingers and i haven’t even started with you yet,” he scoffs. “just a needy little girl, aren’t you?”

“only for you,” you whine back with doe eyes. “only you make me this wet.”

“good to know,” he smiles as he starts pushing his fingers in and out at a steady pace, your whines becoming more breathy and high pitched. “mmmm, more, shua - please, more…” you request, eyes starting to glisten like diamonds.

“i’ve thought about this before.. taking you down in the kitchen, especially while i was away taking those cooking classes.. just even imagining you pressing up against me while prepping the ingredients was enough to get me hard,” joshua confesses. “seeing you get so excited over the icing, i couldn’t help my myself baby,” he softly smiles as he holds you by your chin again and kisses you, this time, his fingers making a circular motion inside of you.

whatever noises you release now are deep inside of his mouth, craving for more of him as you entwine your tongue with his once again. you feel the pressure in your body start to build, knowing that you were going to come soon.

joshua then begins a scissoring motion in your pussy, the highest pitched noises you didn’t even know you could make were pouring out of your mouth like a river. you were practically panting joshua’s name out now, begging for him to make you come, promising you will come like a good girl.

after one particularly good thrust, you release all over his fingers, coating them in your deliciousness. you pant into his chest, leaning forward as you take in his scent again, trying to regain your breath, but not wanting to come down from the amazing high.

“i don’t know what tastes better, you or the icing,” joshua teases when you sit up, looking into his eyes.

“you flatter me,” you playfully roll your eyes as you hold his hand, turning around to take a look at the clock. “well, we still have some time left before we actually start cooking the main course.. did you wanna-“

before you can even finish your sentence, he hoists you up again, and laugh, legs immediately wrapping around his waist as he walks you to the bedroom.

“i haven’t even done half the things i wanted to do with you yet this valentine’s day.. c’mon my pretty girl,” joshua swoons, moving your hair from your eyes. “dinner can wait just a bit longer.”

[artemis32]

Hii! I really like your writing tbh. I was wondering if you could do a Yandere Daniel who kidnappers Y/n!! It's ok if your not interested!! Please ignore this than!!

Yandere Daniel Park

thank you :)) here you go

art's 21st birthday celebration masterlist

lookism masterlist

So I imagine you’d be a friend of his, or rather, a friend of a friend, someone he met after joining J-High. Whether or not the two of you are in the same class doesn’t really matter.

In all honesty, the two of you really aren’t all that close - you have a few mutual friends, you hang out in large groups and see one another in passing most of the time, but that’s about the extent of it.

He’s nice, you think, but the two of you are probably better off as acquaintances than anything else.

You don’t have a ton in common, just enough to make conversation, and something about him rubs you the wrong way a bit, but you brush that off as poor social skills on his part.

And his social skills really are awful. His understanding of social cues is subpar at best, he answers questions with awkward humour that only he seems able to understand, and he seemingly doesn’t know what personal space is.

At first you’d thought it was only you that he acted like that with, but after a week or so of quiet observation, you realised that it was truly just his personality. He was, somewhat unfortunately, clumsy beyond repair, bumping into anyone and everyone, knocking lunch trays out of peoples hands when he tried to help them, tripping people in his haste to greet someone. The list went on.

It didn’t really bother you that the two of you weren’t close - if he had a tendency to overcompensate for what he lacked and miss obvious social cues, then you were the exact opposite. You didn’t go out of your way for anything, preferring to keep to yourself and out of other people’s business. Some people might call you lazy or uninterested in anyone other than yourself, but it really didn’t bother you.

The two of you weren’t close. You were friends in the most disconnected way possible, and that was fine with you.

It wasn’t fine with Daniel.

He was content to watch from a comfortable distance for the most part, watching you interact with your friends, watching you in the cafeteria or walking home, just watching.

It was fine. It was enough.

That is, until it wasn’t.

It wasn’t that he grew greedy - quite the opposite.

He thought you would be safe. You were so uninvested in the lives of others, you had this uncanny way of staying out of trouble - it was one of the things he loved most about you. You had a tendency to stay away from other people’s business, so he thought you’d stay far away from the mess he’d made with the four major crews.

Except nothing in his life ever went right, and you’d been dragged into the spat between the Burn Knuckles and God Dog.

He'll never forget the way his heart dropped to his stomach when he saw you standing there, surrounded by the members of God Dog, a massive, black bruise decorating the side of your face. You could barely keep yourself upright, swaying from side to side every few seconds.

Vasco was mad too, shaking with barely contained rage. Though he'd been angry too, he'd had to hold Vasco back, physically restraining him from attacking blindly.

****

Of course, everything had worked out. Sort of.

They'd gotten you to the hospital in record time after Gun had come and gone, and the news was grim.

A fractured cheekbone and a nasty concussion.

You were lucky, is what the doctor had said after you'd been released from surgery.

You could easily have broken your jaw.

Or worse, your neck.

Whoever hit you had a great amount of self-control.

Daniel could have attacked the doctor in that moment.

A great amount of self control? Bullshit.

You lay in a hospital bed, the bruise a sore sight on your soft skin, a pained look in your eyes.

A great self-control, Daniel decided, was the fact that he wasn't currently pummeling the doctor where he stood.

Great self-control was Daniel not going back to hunt down each and every one of those God Dog scum who laid their hands on you.

Great self-control was Daniel not stealing you away and locking you up for your own safety.

Evidently, Daniel did not have the greatest self-control.

****

This isn't so bad, Daniel thinks.

Sure, when you first arrived, you'd been so skittish, so weary of him. It made him feel awful, and you seemed to sense that.

He loved that about you. You picked up on things so easily, even the most minute detail.

If he actually stopped to think about it for a moment, he might have realised that you never truly adjusted to living with him - rather, you'd taken to walking on eggshells around him, acting as if he was some cornered animal rather than a person.

At the very least, it worked.

He trusted you, to an extent. He wouldn't let you roam outside as you wished, but he also wouldn't lock you up in a dingy room or tie you up whenever he isn't around.

You get to take care of yourself for the most part. He's content to just share the same space as you, simply living alongside you is enough.

He isn't terrible company, and he doesn't have the worst temper, but you tend to tiptoe around him regardless. Something about him still sets you off, makes you uncomfortable in the worst way possible, but you know better than to make that obvious.

You could probably learn to like him, as a friend, and then perhaps something more. But for now, keeping firm boundaries in place is the best idea - and thankfully, he's respectful of those boundaries, not overstepping or pushing you too far.

He's content to sit in his delusional bubble, one in which the two of you are friends, lovers, and you're thankful that he protects you from people worse than him.

At the very least, you're spared from all the later fights. But you'll have to play doctor when Daniel comes home with his fair share of bruises and broken bones, so at least you have something to keep you occupied.

[dreamsgazer]

Hi! Can you n7 from the softest love prompts? Thank you so much!

Oh, Anon, thank YOU! I love that one, and I hope you'll like this one shot. Since it wasn't specified for what paring, I went with my classic one Tangerine x Fem!Reader.

N. 7: that gaze--tired, soft, their thumb gently rubbing your cheek, noses touching, silently mumbling an "i love you"

Prompt for here | Masterlist | Request always open, but I'm slow at answering!

Warnings: mention of wounds (nothing graphic), NO use of Y/N, TONS and tons of fluff. Sincerely, I surprised myself with all this fluffiness.

Quietly Together

You look at Tangerine and he looks at you.

Both of you lay on your side, facing each other, eyes heavy with exhaustion but refusing to surround.

You know he's aware of you taking in every scrape and bruise in his face, neck, bare shoulder.

In a rare moment of vulnerability, he has let you help him to bandage some cuts and gently press ice into a nasty-looking bruise on his back. Lemon is sound asleep in your guest room, his soft snores a familiar and comforting sound in the quiet of almost dawn. "It was a clusterfuck," was all they said about their last "business trip", as they jokingly call them sometimes.

You haven't pressed further, knowing that the last thing they needed once safe and sound in your apartment was being questioned about what they did - and to whom.

You have become quite proficient in postponing questions and worries until one of them is ready to talk, which inevitably happens the day after their return, while you all are watching the telly, and Lemon graciously pretends not to have heard Tangerine fuck you silly before breakfast.

The three of you sitting together while sipping tea and nibbling at scones is quite a domestic scene, and even if Tangerine never explicitly told you that, you know deep in your bones these moments are precious for him as well.

Home, safety, love. Lemon and Tangerine are mostly tight-lipped when it comes to their job - The less you know, the less you risk getting involved in this shit, is what your beloved Tangerine told you once during one of your crazily expensive dinners.

When it comes to their childhood, though, they are even more reserved. Your respect that boundary, but from how much they crave the domesticity you provide, you can take a pretty confident guess about some aspects of their past.

It fills your heart with tenderness and pride to think your tiny home has become a safe space for the two of them, and you make your best to let them know, in no uncertain terms, that the door is always open. Tangerine silently wraps his arms around you, pressing your body even closer to his. You kiss the tip of his nose, making his lips tremble with a silent laugh, and you smile back.

Gently wiggling your arm free from his hold, you delicately push a curl back in its place, caressing his forehead, careful to avoid the cut there. You try not to think about what kind of weapon could have done. He presses his face in your palm, unashamed and almost asleep, murmuring something along the lines of the wound not hurting, don't bother yourself with it. You do it anyway, because you love this man, and you know that under his swearing, sharp words, and witty remarks, he still thinks is soiling you with his presence in your life. Tangerine does love you, that is for sure, but you are acutely aware that sometimes accepting that someone loves him for himself (like Lemon does, yet in a totally different, romantic kind of way) makes your partner feel too vulnerable, too... maybe not scared, but hesitant in dragging you into his existence. What business does it have an assassin barging into a perfectly normal life, after all? Your heart aches for him when he speaks like that, and you are never tired to repeat how much you love him, how much he enriches your life. He looks embarrassed - always preferring actions to words - but you know he craves to hear you say so. He interrupts your thoughts, whispering something about buying you lunch tomorrow and going for a walk, and you murmur back how much you'd love to spend some time with him. Tangerine smiles - not a grin or a smirk, a proper, full smile - and caresses your cheek with his wounded knuckles, letting his fingers brush against your skin. He's painting you in his mind, like you are right now, relaxed, cosy, and safe in his arms. Seeing this relaxed version of him, this calm and not vocal side of Tangerine, is a privilege you would fight for against anyone. It's the ultimate demonstration of love and trust, for someone who usually cannot afford to be vulnerable to be like this while you hold him. "I love you," his cracked lips mouth only for you to see, before giving up and finally letting his eyes close. You stay awake a bit longer, rubbing his back with slow movements. A silent I love you too for him to feel.

[lesbiannancytruther]

okay so @sorry-i-panicked accidentally reminded me wing aus exist so this one is inspired by them💪

anyways u know i have to make a ronance wing au like they’re practically made for it

switching things up by going with robin first! now: i know what you’re thinking. and NO. im not making her wings robin wings. i’m going with one of the smartest birds in the world- the kea parrot! :) they’re very curious and aren’t afraid of pissing people off lol. they’re also known for solving puzzles! their wings are so pretty and they’re known for their problem solving and though they can’t talk, they communicate effectively :)

LISTEN IK WHAT UR GONNA SAY

yeah yeah gay wings BUT im thinking robin has a pretty impressive wingspan! wider than usual and definitely long. she’s still clumsy in the air, but i like to think that sometimes, when she’s really in the groove, she looks pretty graceful. absolutely the type to wrap nancy up in her wings <3

they also move forward by hopping sideways?😭 insert robin having weird coordination joke here

okay onto nancy! a lot of this is biased by the fact that i want nancy to have pink in her wings so bad😩 so im going with the intelligent galah cockatoo! very intelligent and has a knack for picking up on speech and vocab, like a good journalist. while i don’t usually describe nancy as friendly she definitely CAN be and this is an au where people have wings so im not 1:1 comparison ok </3

also female galah’s have pink eyes u better BET ur ass im applying that to miss wheeler

look at this its so pretty😩

im thinking nancy’s wings are a bit big for her but nothing crazy! i like to think nancy is a talented flier bc she did it so much as a kid, really one of the only ways she felt free. galah’s are fast and known for acrobatics. she takes good care of her wings, making sure her feathers are neat and cared for

im thinking robin actually neglects to care for her own wings pretty often with her feathers always uncomfortably disorganized and messy, which gets her pretty frustrated with her wings. based on rebel robin her parents aren’t abusive they’re just really weird in a not so great way, so i can see her not really knowing how? nancy gets one look at them and is like “if you don’t sit down so i can FIX THESE”

nancy makes it a habit well into their friendship and eventual relationship, teaching robin how to herself but doing it often anyways because it’s relaxing and a bonding moment okay

the first time nancy see’s robin’s wings she’s awestruck bc they’re so pretty, especially when robin takes care of them, she always compliments them

robin also loves nancy’s wings, they’re so her and they’re very soft, especially near the inside by where they attach to her back, which nancy is super hesitant to let robin touch at first but eventually she’s welcome to, because she trusts her and especially because it feels good

firm believer in bird traits affecting them. nancy, following galah traits of nesting in tree hollows, always feels safe completely surrounded, always being fond of those kid princess tents because they surrounded her on all sides and were comfy! she also loves the smell of eucalyptus.

robin feels most comfortable in a nest of pillows and blankets on the floor, usually up against a wall, as following kea nesting habits of setting up nests in between tree roots!

the two of them team up and build the best blanket forts on the floor and they cuddle! it’s something special for the two of them and they try to do it often.

they both love fruit sm😩 for breakfast they eat fruit all the time. nancy cuts the fruit as the one of the two of them that is allowed to handle a knife (learned the hard way w an er trip) and robin arranges them into fun displays that make nancy laugh and kiss her on the cheek. nancy can’t handle meat well/just doesn’t like it as galahs are strictly herbivores so they like to try a ton of new stuff with vegetarian spins

feathers are often exchanged between the two, nancy wears a cluster of robin’s feathers on a necklace (made by robin) and robin keeps nancy’s softest feathers as a sensory thing, they’re really easy to run her her fingers over and keep her grounded, you can usually see pink feathers in her hand or in her pocket.

im thinking their first kiss happens mid air bc they’re going on a flying date that’s definitely not a date but is a date and robin sees nancy do this little spin and just laugh and robin just dives for her, cups her face and kisses her. nancy is only a little surprised before she eagerly returns it, going to wrap her arms around robin’s shoulders before quickly going to her waist to keep robin from falling and she has to remind robin through breathless giggles to “keep flapping birdie i can’t hold both of us” and robin quickly adjusts so that they can continue and

AGH

i love them so bad

[yes-these-obsessions-are-healthy]

One of the Silco scenes I hold close to my heart is where he’s in Marcus’s house and is found to be playing with Ren because it reveals a lot about Silco’s ability to be affable, and possibly also reveals his feelings about fatherhood and the extremely different childhoods that Piltover and Zaun children have.

One of the obvious more indulgent reasons is because, as I stated in another post, he flexed his power and established how threatening he was to Marcus through entirely non-violent means. He doesn’t say or do anything to upset or make Ren uncomfortable except at the very end when he destroys her tower. He speaks completely in metaphor when talking shop with Marcus. He even tries to explain the situation to Ren in G-rated terms (‘Vander’s daughter..she was about your age when he went away on a very long trip.’) And he even makes exaggerated story-telling faces, though a part of me feels he just wants to indulge and ham it up a bit because his audience is young. But he is charming and engaging. He makes Ren privy to the conversation by speaking to her as a way of speaking to Marcus. She is the intermediary, which Silco expertly uses to keep her engaged and present, because what child doesn’t love being spoken TO about important grown up things, not simply ignored? Child psychology, our man is savvy.

It is also Silco’s way of dangling Ren in front of Marcus, as if to say ‘Yeah, she’s involved now. Watch me work.’

To be honest I don’t know how old Ren is. Silco states that Ren was around Vi’s age when he went away, but Vi was clearly a teenager in Part 1, so that is either a mistake in the script OR Silco is shifting Jinx’s circumstances (she was 10) to Vi in a small lie. So Ren could be 10 here. Despite her room looking very nursery-like, given that it’s Piltover and it’s insulated from economic hardship and bullshit, it might simply be that rich Piltover children grow up much slower, they’re babied for longer.

And IF Ren is 8-10, a part of me also wants to interpret Silco talking to Ren like she’s 5 years old to be intentional. He is mirroring her child-like surroundings and the privilege she has of being able to be in such an environment by talking to her like she’s a toddler. Children of Zaun do not have the luxury of living blissfully ignorant and happy, surrounded by toys and soft colors. Any toy with metal fixtures were likely smelted with Zaun labor, the pastels in her room made with dyes that poison the water supply of the Undercity. Even at her young age, she benefits from the exploitation of Zaun.

And if it turns out that Silco’s mention of age is also just a fabrication and Ren is indeed around 6 or so, it doesn’t change the fact that Silco is talking to her like she’s in pre-school. He’s still condescending to her, but in a weird way he’s being genuine about it to keep her out of the loop. No need to scare the kid. It’s less of a hassle to deal with a screaming child. How thoughtful.

But in any case, Silco’s behavior toward Ren is fascinating. His voices and facial expressions feel fluid and natural. His child-friendly side doesn’t come off as forced at all, or something he needs to really dig for, for him to muster up. There are tons of villains that hate kids or have no frame of reference in how to speak or act around them, or they treat them like how *they* were treated growing up. But Silco is pulling out all the stops to come off as a man that is comfortable around kids, wholly competent. Either he is an astounding actor, which I doubt because he can barely stifle little twitches and *looks* that give away how he feels, or this is familiar territory for him. The part of the human brain that recognizes children as “tiny people to handle and treat carefully” certainly isn’t missing from his. It shows he possesses quite a bit of pedagogical finesse, perhaps a bit of that ‘Father’s Brother’ energy that makes kids feel comfortable around him.

(It could also be that Piltover is so safe that stranger danger isn’t something that is taught to kids, OR Ren is age-appropriately naive and simply believed Silco when he told her he and her father were friends and thus let him in. It could be all three.)

Speaking of Silco being child-appropriate, I think him destroying Ren’s tower was his child-appropriate way of conveying to her “I’m bad news, kiddo. Remember that.” It is obviously another way of taunting Marcus by showing him that his dirty cop business has now come home to roost in his own damned house.

Another reason I love it is I know Silco doesn’t care about Pilties, but I feel that narratively speaking, this scene also functions as Silco subtly scolding Marcus for being an irresponsible father. Marcus is working with HIM, a criminal possessing a squeaky clean record because of Marcus’s corruption. He can visit Topside if he wants. He’s not banished to the shadows like some two-bit thug. Marcus thinks he can get lazy with their arrangement or hold out on Silco and not see any consequences? He wants to jeopardize his daughter’s safety like that? Silco hates liars, fence-sitters, and irresponsibility. You take care of the people that trust you. You do not gamble with that trust willy-nilly. Ren trusts her father to not bring anything bad back home, but that’s exactly what he did. Silco’s mere presence in Marcus’s home is him saying: “Newsflash, fucker: You let a snake into your garden years ago. You thought I’d stay in the bushes out of sight? You think I wouldn’t find my way into your house? Think again. I go wherever the fuck I please. What the fuck are you thinking? Do you have any idea how arrogant and stupid you are, playing me like this? You think I wouldn’t hurt your daughter? By my own grace I *choose* not to hurt her now, but I can only speak for myself. Were I any other criminal in the Undercity, you’d be receiving her hand in the mail as a *warning*. You are fortunate I am more dignified than that. Get a goddamn grip before I have one of my boys here personally schedule an early drop-off at the orphanage.”

Maybe I am just riding Dad Silco train very hard, BUT CAN YOU BLAME ME? I would 100% have trusted this man with a child before the Betrayal. You cannot tell me he didn’t babysit or bottlefeed at least one baby belonging to a fellow member of the resistance in his youth! You can’t!!

[tinyjeanmarco]

zeke relationship hc’s!

note: this was just going to be zeke as your husband, but it turned into outright zeke relationship hc’s! modern setting! hope you all enjoy! <3

zeke x gn!reader

warnings: none <3

you wouldn’t believe it, but.. zeke hit on you when you were out at the pool with friends on a hot summer day.

listen, he just thought you looked really hot and he didn’t wanna let someone so stunning slip away so easily.

he was so smooth about it too, he would come up to you, water droplets hanging off his golden, glowing skin, and hand you an ice cold lemonade.

you were really taken aback, unsure if you should trust a random bearded man at the pool who was hitting on you.

your friends were egging you on, saying it had been a while since you dated after your last ex, so give it a go.

agreeing, thinking it was time to finally let go, you asked him for his name and began flirting right back with him.

you two spent the rest of the time at the pool together.

your friends didn’t mind if you spent the day with him, thinking it was funny and also very good for you.

for some reason, it was. you had never met this man before, but suddenly  you just felt comfortable with him.

he asked you for your number after you began to feel tired, stating you were going to go. you gave it to him, not reluctant at all.

he asked you out after you exchanged numbers and you had nodded. he said he would text you the deets and gave a wink before turning to also pack his stuff and leave.

you joined back up with your besties, telling them all about him. they were pretty hyped about the whole situation, saying they would help you get ready for your date whenever it was.

you steadily spent more time with him after that date. that date being a trip to an arcade together. it was a really fun first date and you got to know him a lot better.

moving in with him was fun, moving the boxes in became sort of a game of who could carry the most boxes into the apartment. not necessarily at the same time, but overall. 

he unfortunately won that little game, boosting his ego more than you needed.

now, when he proposed to you, he was a mess of nerves, definitely not his regular confident self, which that in itself tipped you off that something was going on.

he took you on a date to the arcade you went to on your first date when he proposed. it was honestly really sweet, he made sure it was at a place with special meaning for you two.

zeke 10/10 ugly cried at your wedding. he just thought you looked absolutely stunning, he couldn’t help it.

he also probably got totally wasted at your wedding too which gave you tons of funny memories. 

you def whipped out your phone and recorded him being silly as well as taking fun pics with him.

the type to wake up before you and make you breakfast in his underwear.

he likes to bring you breakfast in bed whenever he can. 

wakes you up with soft forehead kisses, brushing his thumbs over your cheeks.

sometimes when he wakes up, he just decides to lay with you, watching how peaceful and comfortable you look.

you eventually wake up and catch him just looking at you, so you roll over onto him, just kinda plopping onto him.

he gives a hearty laugh and just wraps his arms around you whenever you do that, making sure you stay close to him and can’t get up. he wants to bask in the warm sunlight leaking in through the window.

don’t ask why, but when you run your fingers through his hair and scratch his scalp, he becomes a puddle of goo. (maybe it’s the monke genes)

if he were a cat, he would purr whenever you did that.

loves holding you in his arms on the balcony of your apartment, just enjoying the fresh air and sunlight.

he’s only allowed to smoke outside, cause we all know this man smokes too much.

you try to get him to stop as much as you can. he does try, but it’s really hard because it’s a stress reliever whenever he is overworked.

you haven’t been able to get him to stop completely but he definitely has cut down on how much he smokes since you’ve gotten together. just one step at a time.

although he is a smoker, i feel like he would have a really nice singing voice. he sings you to sleep sometimes. it’s just really melodic and gentle. 

that’s honestly another reason you try to get him to stop smoking, because it could harm his vocals really bad and then he wouldn’t be able to sing as well as he does now.

you love hearing him hum or sing along to music as he cooks for you.

sometimes you join in and sing duets together, whether you think you’re good or not, he loves your voice when you sing with him. really makes his day when you join in for the chorus!

a married, grown man, but still a literal child. takes you out on a sushi date and then takes you to a railroad track so you can run around being idiots, just talking.

likes to have deep, meaningful chats with you when you’re walking on the train tracks.

don’t worry, you guys are always safe when you visit them, he wouldn’t ever let anything happen to you or even put you in a dangerous situation if he can help it.

please, i see him as being really good at roller skating. he wants to teach you because it’s something he really enjoys. he will not let you do anything related to skating without elbow pads, knee pads, wrist guards, and a helmet.

buys you fun skates that match his.

also, he wont let you skate without safety gear but he’s out here wearing only wrist guards. mister “i’ve been skating for years” is a hypocrite.

to be fair, he doesn’t fall a whole lot.

you get nervous skating at first so he takes you to empty parking lots to teach you before moving on to skate parks.

ngl i forgot indoor skating was a thing so i didn’t mention it, but he would also take you to those places! would make sure you have your indoor wheels on when you go though.

he doesn’t want you to fall because you have your gummy wheels on, or get in trouble for using the wrong wheels.

you’re really good at it before you even notice because you have such a great teacher.

i see zeke also being the husband that wants to travel a lot. you would go to so many places and experience lots of things.

ziplining, sky diving, bungee jumping, cliff diving. all the things.

he loves going cliff diving a lot though, will yell super loud as he jumps into the water.

you’re scared the first time he takes you, never having done daring things like that before. he tells you that there is no pressure and if you want to go back to the cabin, that’s totally okay too.

you tell him with a trembling confident voice that you’re going to do it. he goes first so he can be ready to comfort you after you jump.

you actually had a ton of fun, the adrenaline pumping through you as you wrapped your arms around him, pulling him into a bruising kiss.

laughter surrounds you two as you get lost in one another.

hiking and canoeing are also something he really enjoys with you.

he tells you all the time how he wants to get a cat or dog so you guys can be like those instagram pages where people take their pets with them on adventures.

zeke also seems like someone who would like to go cold plunging! he likes the health benefits that come with it, as well as connecting with strangers.

now, one final thought since we are on adventure zeke who loves taking care of his mental and physical health, man loves to meditate.

he will make you meditate with him and practice mindfulness and breathing techniques.

10/10, zeke is good hubby and partner in life. he loves going on adventures with you and spending time with you. ♡

[imagine-a-life-like-this]

Red Was My Favourite Colour (J.JK)

Warnings : talk of abuse, talk of cheating

Synopsis : after an abusive relationship, y/n is able to find love again.

Word Count : 1431

Author’s Note : I am reinventing this tumblr page. I understand a lot of those who follow me followed me for the people I posted in the past, but they just don’t interest me anymore. I still want to write imagines, and have written tons in the time I was away. But they all have to do with the kpop band BTS. So if you like BTS, I hope you enjoy. I will keep all my other imagines up, but I will be posting primarily BTS from here on out and will be creating a new Masterlist. Thank you!

The first red flag came after one month of dating when I told him I was going home for a week. I posted pictures of my brothers, and he called me incessantly until I answered. I knew everyone could hear his yelling on the other end, but no one said a thing as I calmly explained everything and reassured him that I was his. He told me he loved me then.

           The second red flag came on our 100th day when he was late to the reservations he had made smelling heavily of perfume that wasn’t mine. But he bought me a pretty diamond necklace, telling me that the diamond of his life deserves diamonds of all kinds.

           The third red flag came when I introduced him to my best friend, Park Jimin, and he immediately asked how many times we hooked up in the past. We explained our relationship isn’t like that. We’ve been best friends since diaper days and were practically siblings. He explained his ex had left him for her best friend, and I reassured him I only loved him.

           The fourth red flag came on our 6-month anniversary when he suddenly had a work conference out of town. I had a sinking suspicion that he was lying to me, and that was confirmed when his boss called me, asking me to remind my boyfriend about the early meeting the next morning. I told him I thought they were at a work conference for the weekend, his boss said there was no such thing and he said he was taking me on a trip for our anniversary. He came home with a bunch of gifts for me, apologizing for missing our 6-month anniversary.

           The fifth red flag came with a harsh slap across my face when I spoke back to him. He held me softly afterwards, tears in his eyes as he promised me he would never hurt me again. I wiped away his tears and forgave him, keeping this a secret from my best friend.

           The sixth red flag came with purple bruises littering my body. Jimin asked where they came from and I always shrugged it off, blaming my clumsiness. I promised my boyfriend I wouldn’t make him angry again. It was my fault anyways.

           The final red flag came when I opened my eyes in the hospital, my eyes meeting those of a police officer, asking for my story. I wanted to protect him, but Jimin had caught him red handed with the gun aimed right at me. I spilled all the red flags I noticed throughout the year we were together. Jimin cried as he listened to everything I said, asking me why I didn’t speak up sooner.

           “Because red is my favourite colour.” I whispered in response.

           My first month of healing was spent scared to leave the apartment I now shared with Jimin. I met his two other best friends, Jeon Jungkook and Kim Taehyung. I was shy at first, but they made me feel comfortable.

           My second month of healing was spent taking small steps to become independent again. Jimin wasn’t going to be around forever to take care of me, no matter how much he disagrees with that statement. Jungkook and Taehyung came around more often, and I welcomed them fully in my life.

           My third month of healing was spent exploring the world I was hidden from during my relationship. I spent a lot of time filming my surroundings with Jungkook. He would send me videos he took of our adventures, and I noticed he tended to film me rather than the scenery. You are the scenery. He told me once. Butterflies flew around my tummy.

           My fourth month of healing was spent laughing openly and truly with my new friends. The four of us spent a lot of time together, exploring the city and getting lost in neighbourhoods we were unfamiliar with. Jungkook and I got split up from Taehyung and Jimin, so Jungkook held my hand saying he didn’t want to lose me too. I laced our fingers together as I looked up at him with a smile.

           My fifth month of healing was spent sneaking around with Jungkook on dates. We didn’t want to make Jimin, or Taehyung feel weird with our blossoming relationship, so we hid it. He kissed me for the first time in the moonlight outside my apartment building. He asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes. I felt content.

           Our first month together was spent with more secret dates and kisses when no one was looking. Jimin had caught us eventually, saying we weren’t subtle in any way. He congratulated us, and warned Jungkook that if he ever hurt me, it was on sight. I laughed at the thought. Jungkook could easily take Jimin, but he wasn’t like that. I felt safe.

           Our second month together, he invited me along to meet a couple of his other friends, Jung Hoseok and Kim Seokjin. He promised they were good people and there would be nothing to worry about. I could see the hopefulness in his eyes and agreed. I felt comfortable immediately and quickly opened my world up to them.

           Our third month together, we spent a lot of time with all of our friends going for more adventures like old times. He never let go of my hand, not bothering with an excuse this time, not that he needed one. I would hold his hand until the end of time.

           On our 100th day, he took me for a picnic and gifted me a cute necklace with his initials and a heart. He whispered I love you in my ear as he put it on me. I kissed him and told him I loved him too. It felt right.

           By our 6th month, I found a job and felt comfortable being left alone again. Jungkook would always come for my lunch break though, saying he was used to seeing me all the time. I introduced him to two of my coworkers who were quickly becoming my work friends, Kim Namjoon and Min Yoongi. He smiled and thanked them for making me feel comfortable. There was no need to be jealous because he knew I loved him.

           By our first anniversary, all of our friends had met and the 8 of us spent a lot of time together at someone’s place. We did karaoke a lot that resulted in a lot of drunken nights. I wasn’t once scared of Jungkook when he was drunk because he never put his hands on me.

           On our anniversary, he took me to a fancy restaurant. We updated each other on the things we’ve missed and laughed at some dumb things our friends did. By dessert, he slid an envelope across the table. I pulled out a letter and a key. Without even reading the letter, I knew he was asking me to move in with him. But it wasn’t until I read the letter that I realized he bought my dream house. It’s time to start our happily ever after. He said softly. There was no other answer besides yes.

           Our friends helped us move in. Jimin cried at losing his roommate to another man, and I cried at moving away from my best friend. We held each other for a while, rubbing each other’s backs as we cried. Jungkook smiled at us, a soft look in his eyes.

           Our first night living together, I was wrapped up in his arms as he played with my hair, humming softly. I’ve never felt so safe, so in love. He proved to me every single day that the relationship I had before wasn’t love. This right here, what Jungkook and I have, is true love.

           Red used to be my favourite colour, but now my favourite colour is the different shades of brown in his eyes. It’s the pink of his lips. It’s whatever colour he’s dyed his hair, the different browns and blues and purples. It’s the soft yellow the pours into our room in the morning and I wake up in his arms. It’s the navy blue of the night sky with the sparkly stars littering the sky as we stand on our balcony, him holding me from behind as he lists all the reasons he loves me.

           I used to love the colour red because it was the colour of the flags love once gave me. But now I love every single colour because Jungkook has showed me what love looks like.

[lepusrufus]

Double edged scalpel ch.6

ch.1 ch.2 ch.3 ch.4 ch.5

Summary: It's backstory time!

Mandatory warning since this is not a usual thing on my blog so I think a separate warning would be useful, there will be talk of past abuse and alcohol abuse.

----

"Wakey wakey," came the gruff voice from just outside her bedroom door.

It was slightly muffled but more than enough to make her jolt awake, muscle memory taking over the remnants of sleep. She only had one minute to be out the door. It was more than enough though, her routine perfected over years. Get out of bed. Put socks on. Get shoes. Grab the duffel bag. She slept dressed anyways, ready to go at any time.

Or not?

Where were her clothes?

Nevermind that she had time to put something on. Just grab a shirt and pants from the dresser.

Hurried steps took her over the plush carpet. Wasn't it supposed to be a solid grey? Had her mother swapped it for one of their fancier rugs?

That didn't matter right now. Clothes. She needed clothes. When she got to her dresser she stood there, frowning at the bookshelf that now took its place. She didn't even remember acquiring the tomes in front of her, most of them old and with unfamiliar trinkets surrounding them. That's not how her bedroom was arranged. Why wasn't anything in its place? Was Alex playing a prank on her? No, he wouldn't do that.

Time was almost up and she needed some goddamn clothes and to get out and her head was starting to spin-

"Nicole?"

Her eyes snapped back to the bed she had so hastily vacated, Cassandra looking at her concerned.

From the room's entrance came another familiar voice. Bela. "I only wanted to let you know that Daniela wants to go for a hunt tomorrow." Her eyes were averted and as soon as the words left her lips, she turned and shut the door behind her, not waiting for an answer from her sister.

Confusion mixed in with dizziness, but Nicole let out a quiet oh when she fully realized where she was. Cassandra's bedroom. They came here last night and fell asleep. And she was only wearing underwear.

She went to sit on the edge of the bed, head resting in her hands to try alleviate the fog in her brain. She probably looked like hell, but that was the least of her concerns right now.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Came the uncharacteristically soft voice of Cassandra, who had moved from her spot under the blankets and was gently rubbing her back.

"Uh, nothing," Nicole replied, as if she didn't look ready to puke.

Cassandra only pursed her lips and frowned. "You looked like you simultaneously saw a ghost and were ready to fight a ghost."

She swallowed thickly and forced out a laugh. "Oh are we at "tragic backstory" relationship level now?" It was at best a pathetic attempt to change the subject and at worst annoying.

When she looked back at the brunette she was still frowning, but not in annoyance. Her golden eyes sparked with concern, scrutinizing the redhead's face and body language for any clue as to what was wrong. It sent a pang of guilt through Nicole's chest. She took a deep breath and leaned back into Cassandra's touch, trying to collect her thoughts. Where does one even begin to explain this whole mess?

"Have you ever wondered why I came here? To the village?"

"...Not really," she admitted.

Nicole took another deep breath, pulling the words from her mouth as if she were pulling out teeth with pliers.

"My dad, he…he had a bit of a weird business. We never knew the details of it, he never told any of us and we knew better than to snoop, but I do know it had something to do with drugs and was highly illegal."

Staying in one place proved itself a pesky little task, so Nicole stood up and started to collect her clothes from the floor and started dressing. Cassandra instead remained in the same spot, listening intently.

"With a job like that you make enemies by default. And that made him paranoid beyond belief. When me and Alex, my older brother, were children it wasn't that bad. Worst thing he would do was lock our bedroom doors and refuse to let us attend public school."

She narrowed her eyes at a wall, still not wanting to meet Cassandra's gaze. Now that she said it out loud, not that bad sounded pretty bad too. Whatever.

"It started going downhill when I was around…" She pursed her lips, trying to make her brain put together some semblance of a timeline. "Twelve. Yeah twelve. He came bursting into our bedrooms at 2 a.m. saying that someone with a gun had gotten into our house and wanted to kill us. We were mortified. I remember my mom holding me and Alex in the backseat crying while my dad drove us to his secluded cabin in the woods."

"And that became a habit of his. He'd have us do these drills every once in a while and then scream at us if we didn't do everything in under a minute."

"That's so fucking stupid," Cassandra spat, golden eyes gleaming with anger.

Nicole started pacing back and forth, desperate for a distraction. "Oh I know. And after a few years of this I made sure to tell him exactly how much I thought it was bullshit."

Finally coming to terms with the lack of something to do while she talked, Nicole gave up and went back to the bed. She sat down by Cassandra's side, though still avoiding her eyes.

"Do you know what getting punched in the face feels like?"

Cassandra's expression contorted into a disgusted grimace. With the hand not on Nicole's back rubbing comforting circles, she dug talons into the soft fabric of a blanket. She didn't really have an answer because frankly she didn't know. Her body reacted very differently to physical harm and the few that could hurt her wouldn't go for a stupid punch to the face. Nicole kept on talking though, not really looking for an answer.

"That shut me up for a bit. Key word a bit. When he woke me up on the night before an important test I was pissed. I just thought fuck it and went upstairs to the library. It took him around twenty minutes to find me and when he did… Well, I regretted some life choices."

"I was so done with being there in that house. Though thankfully my parents went on a business trip the next day and Alex was at a friend's for the weekend. I had the whole house to myself and decided to grab one of my mom's vintage wines and just spend the evening on the couch drinking. And that's how I became an alcoholic at the ripe old age of fifteen." She let out a humorless chuckle at the end.

That day was a blur in her mind. The only thing that she vividly remembered was Alex coming home early and finding her blackout drunk on the couch. At the end of the day though, they were both in the same boat. He just grabbed the bottle from her and started to sip away at the remaining wine. Laughing at each other's hangover the next day was the most fun they'd had in ages so it became a habit for the both of them. Every once in a while they'd go into the wine cellar, pick out a bottle and then go drink it in the attic while they pretended their problems didn't exist. It continued well into their college years. Nicole was barely able to recall doing anything during her years in med school that wasn't being drunk or studying.

She groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. That's not where she meant to go with the story. Cassandra placing a gentle kiss on her shoulder brought her enough comfort to try and wrap it up.

"I guess in a sick ironic way my dad was right in the end though," she subconsciously shifted closer to the brunette and she wasted no time in loosely wrapping her arms around Nicole's waist.

"I was three weeks away from completing my residency when I came home from the lab, only to find my mom in a puddle of blood on the living room floor. My brother was in a similar state in his bedroom. My dad was nowhere to be found but I didn't care. It was his fault," she swallowed the lump in her throat and felt tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

"I just grabbed my documents and a duffle bag with some clothes and ran. Booked the first flight to Romania to come stay at my grandparents'. Oh except they know what my dad is all about! Told me I had an hour to get some rest and be out of their house as they didn't want any trouble with my dad's people."

"I did grab a fuck ton of my dad's cash though so at least hotels weren't an issue," her words were coming out chocked, occasionally interrupted by sniffles. She rapidly whipped a hand across her face. "Have you ever been to Braşov? Old part of the city is quite lovely."

Cassandra grimaced. She didn't want to interrupt, but seeing Nicole in such a state made something in her unbeating heart ache. She gently wiped the trail of tears from her cheeks and placed a kiss on her temple from where she was sitting half behind Nicole. Then, with the softest voice she could muster, "And how did you meet Duke?"

Nicole's eyes widened slightly, apparently having forgotten that detail.

"Oh I stumbled upon his shop one day. I thought he was selling some neat stuff and he was nice so I kept coming back. One thing led to another and when I found out about a place off the map where no one gets in or out without help I thought it would be the perfect place to hide from the people trying to put a bullet through my head." Then she winced slightly. "I was also mildly tipsy when I made that decision."

Cassandra looked a little incredulous. "And he just brought you here?"

"I paid him."

Cassandra's expression turned to what could only be described as disappointed but not surprised. Then her attention went back on the redhead, glossy eyes fixated on the floor. To say she sucked at comforting others was an understatement. Daniela was far more well versed in the art of making others not feel miserable but she was nothing if not stubborn enough to try.

"Listen," she shifted to sit in front of her, hand placed gently on a wet cheek. "If anyone ever dares come near you with the intention of harming you, I'll make them regret every life choice that led them there. You're safe here." She may not be great with her words, but if Cassandra excelled in anything, it was keeping her loved ones safe. Loved one huh.

Nicole leaned into her touch, finally meeting Cassandra's eyes. There was a gentle kind of determination in her golden gaze, accompanied by a fiery rage that, for once in her life, brought comfort as opposed to terror. It came with the knowledge that it wasn't directed at her but at whoever may want to harm her.

She didn't doubt her words. Instead she shifted closer, face nuzzled in the crook of Cassandra's neck and, barely above a whisper, said: "Thank you."

[yootaesowlwrites]

Thirty-Day Notice - Yoongi

A/n: A little something for Min Yoongi/Suga’s birthday, I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare something proper, but I managed to write a small something.

Warnings: None that I can think of as of right now, maybe fluff, tons of fluff.

W/C: 1.7K+

“What do you want for your birthday?” You ask as you sit down on the soft luxurious sofa, turning your body towards his while bending your knee to put on the couch, your foot hangs off the sofa, you placed your arm on the back of the sofa and placed your hand on your cheek, your eyes fall on Yoongi as he held a pen in his hand, a book resting in his lap and words were scribbled down on it. “It’s next week, is there anything specific that you want?” A faint smile begins forming on his lips, his teeth slightly on display.

“Time with you.” He says as he lays his head back against the sofa and turns his head to look at you, his eyes, that was the colour of the earth after the first spring rain and could turn a golden colour when the sun would hit them just perfect. “A day with little to no interruptions with you, that would be a really nice day.” You reach over with your free hand, stopping just before you could touch his cheek, hesitating for a second, he drops the pen in his hand on the book laying on his lap and reaches for your hand, he gently pushes your palm against his warm cheek, keeping his hand over yours, your eyes move from his eyes to your hands.

“Just that?” You ask as your eyes flicker back to his. “Just a little time with me?”

“A day.” He corrects her. “We haven’t been able to spend a day with each other one a while.” You nod your head, your thumb softly tracing over his cheek. “I’m not sure if I can turn my phone off for the entire day, I may have to step out for a couple of hours.” He uses his other hand to move the book away from his lap, he carefully pulls your hand away from his cheek before turning himself to sit sideways on the couch to face you, he places your hands on his knee. “But afterwards, I think we should just stay on the couch, or get back into bed, and watch a movie or a series, order something to eat.” You listen intently and started planning everything in your mind.

━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━

“Can you come over?” You ask in a whining tone, your phone was on the kitchen counter in your apartment while you were — as quietly as you could — unpacking the food you had ordered for Yoongi’s birthday, you hear him hum on the other side of the line, he was at the studio and had messaged you that he had just finished meeting with some producers, so you had called him to invite him over, it was his birthday, and usually you would be at his place, but you needed to do something at your place, and you wouldn’t have had enough time to get back to his with all the food you had ordered.

“Are you at your apartment?” He asks, you could hear a faint sigh as he spoke, he had told you multiple times to get rid of your apartment and move in with him, and each time he would mention it, you would tell him that you wanted to be sure about him, about your relationship with him, but the truth, you were scared he would regret his decision later once he saw all of your things in his apartment or penthouse, you weren’t sure what to call it, it was more likely a penthouse than an apartment. “I will be there in about…” He trails off, probably looking at the time on his phone or watch. “Twenty-five minutes.” You nod your head before you realized he couldn’t see you.

“Oh, right, twenty-five minutes is fine, I’ll see you then.” You say. “I have a surprise for you also.” It took you weeks to make the decision, as scared as you were to leave your apartment, pack everything up and move in with him, you would never know if it would be worth it unless you took that leap, you could hear the rapid beating of your heart loudly drum in your ears, you had given your thirty-day notice to the landlord just an hour ago.

“A surprise?” He asks, you could hear a door closing and assumed he just climbed into his car. “I told you not to get me anything, just being able to spend the rest of today with you will be enough.” You could hear some fumbling in the background. “I’ll see you in twenty-five minutes, I’m about to leave the building.”

“It will be a gift that you like.” You say. “I will see you when you get here, have a safe trip.” The phone call ends, and you lock your phone, and you begin setting the table, moving the food containers to the table, a knock on her door make your movements halt, it couldn’t have been Yoongi already, only ten minutes have passed, you walk to the door, and open it a little.

“Delivery.” The person says, you pull the door open and saw him holding the drinks you had ordered, you had almost forgotten you had ordered them, why did they take so long to arrive? Never mind, you wouldn’t worry about it right now, you take your wallet out and hand him the amount you needed to pay before taking the drinks.

“Thank you.” You say, they nod their heads before walking down the hallway to the elevator, you close the door and made your way back to the kitchen, placing his iced americano on the table near his plate and placing your drink near your plate, after that it didn’t take long for Yoongi to arrive, he greets you with a kiss as he steps into your apartment, shedding his jacket as he moves further inside.

“So, what was the surprise?” He asks as he turns to face you after putting the jacket down on the couch, you smile at him, feeling excitement bubbling up inside you along with nervousness. “It better be a good surprise.”

“You’re making it sound like I’ve given you horrible surprises in the past.” You say. “Firstly, Happy birthday, and secondly, I have food in the kitchen.” A smile on your lips, your hands were pushing into your jean pockets, hoping you could spare your news for after lunch.

“The surprise first.” He says, crushing your hope instantly, maybe you shouldn’t have mentioned the surprise in the first place and just dropped it on him after lunch.

“Okay… if you insist on that first.” You say while pulling your hands out from your pockets. “I uh…” You fear your throat as you felt a lump forming in it. “I gave in my thirty-day notice today.”

“Thirty-day notice?” He asks, you could see the knots in his eyes, the confusion written over his face. “Thirty-day notice… on your apartment?” You could see realisation hit him, his eyes widening with surprise and his lips parting. “Ar— Are you saying… ” He trails off, you nod your head, a smile grows on his lips. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.” You say while nodding your head, a smile forming on your lips, he moves towards you, gently grabbing the side of your face with both his hands. “If you still want me to move in with you.” He pulls you closer, his lips brush against yours, his pine cologne fills your lungs as it surrounds you, the faint taste of the snacks he had eaten at the studio still lingered on his lips.

“This is the best gift you could have given me today.” He says after pulling away, he lays his forehead against yours and stares into your eyes. “When did you decide?” His tone was just above a whisper, it was soft as he spoke, you brought your hands up to his that were still holding your face, placing them over his, feeling the warmth from them underneath your palms.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks now.” You say. “And I’ve decided that it’s time, time for me to take that leap and move in with you.” It almost appeared like his eyes started to sparkle when you said that, you could see the happiness in them. “Unless you’ve changed your mind?” Your tone was playful as you said that.

“How dare you.” He says, you could hear the playfulness in his voice. “How dare you think for one second that I would ever change my mind about that?” He moves his forehead away from yours while releasing your face, he turns his hands to take hold of yours that was holding the back of his hands. “I’ll come and help you pack and rent a moving truck.”

“Are… are you sure?” You ask. “I mean, I have a lot of stuff, do you really want all of my things in your apartment?” He lets out a breathy chuckle, your fingers interlace with his before letting your arms fall down, hands still connected with each others. “It’s a lot of stuff.”

“I want everything of yours in my space.” He says. “It wouldn’t feel right if you just brought your clothes and personal items, I want each and every piece of you, except your furniture, in my place.” You couldn’t help but to giggle, you would have to sell your furniture, except your pillow, your pillow was your pillow and that was one thing you couldn’t do without, and Yoongi knew… you couldn’t sleep if it wasn’t your pillow, other pillows just didn’t feel right and gave you a headache. “My sofas are big enough and so is my bed, so, I don’t think your furniture will fit in as well.”

“I didn’t think so either.” You say. “But there is maybe a few pieces I want to keep.” He nods his head. “A few pieces that feel like home, minus my pillow, because you already know that I’m never going to get rid of that.” He couldn’t help but loudly laugh, he releases your hands and took a step back, not wanting to be too loud in your ear with his laughing.

“I know, I know.” He says. “You already told me that the pillow was part of the deal when you first slept over at my place.” The first time you were invited over to his place, or he invited you over for the night, you showed up with an overnight bag and your pillow tugged underneath your arm, a sheepish smile on your lips. “I remember it clearly.”

“Then I’m glad you know my and my pillow’s conditions.”

[siennahrobek]

Future Past

5 BBY

(Luke is approximately 14 years old)

Lothal was a bit of a strange place to stop, on account of being so bustling with the Empire’s presence. However, for some reason, Ben had insisted on a short stop there and lured him in with that mischievous smirk he would get sometimes and a mention of a surprise. And Luke supposed, he could use the distraction. Of anything, really.

It had been hard; so soon after Ben had forced Boil to leave them. Boil had been Luke’s friend, in a way that he had never had before. He and Ben didn’t stay on a planet long enough for Luke to actually make friends, but Boil had stayed with them for months and it was turning into routine. It became normal. Even squishing him into their little ship wasn’t too bad; Luke was just too happy about just having someone else around. Of course, Qui-Gon stopped by once in a while, but he couldn’t hold his form for very long and generally, he only came when he had something to teach. Luke had been so happy for those couple of months, having someone around to talk to and help and teach and be taught by. He loved Ben, of course, he did, with so much, but there was a difference.

And suddenly that was taken away.

And Luke had been very upset.

After Boil had been sent away, Luke didn’t talk to Ben for nearly a week and even after that, it was only necessary exchanges between them. Which led to their trip to Lothal where they barely made it past the strict incoming traffic regulations and landed in the middle of nowhere.

Meditation, Luke presumed with a frown and the roll of his eyes.

Ben took nothing with him, just gestured for Luke to follow him out into the grasslands. And, as of course, he did, and they walked in silence through the tiny civilization which he knew would be leading out into the actual, literal, middle of nowhere. At least, until Ben had spotted something that had interested in him. After telling Luke to stay where he was and the younger man returning that request with a long, irritated whine and near rebuttal, Ben had left him in the market, hidden away in an alley until he got back.

It wasn’t just hard because of Boil leaving, although that was the core of it. It wasn’t just because Luke had lost pretty much the only friend, he had made that he knew Ben would trust. But Luke had been a bit bitter towards his guardian. Things were a bit more strained than usual, and Luke was holding onto his feelings. The ones that were so upset and angry that he felt like sometimes he could just explode.

Because he finally, finally, had a friend that Ben would approve of. Sure, he was older like Ben, but it was a start, it was something. It was even a person that Ben cared about and trusted. But then he just sent him away and Luke was struggling on forgiving Ben for that.

Lost in thought and his bitterness, Luke was a bit too late to notice the being creeping up on him but realized just enough for avoid the stun coming his way. He didn’t get a good look at his opponent who tried to flip him…only for Luke to bring the being with him and flipped him as well.

It hurt. And no doubt it hurt the other guy too.

The ensuing fight was rather brutal, and Luke had a feeling if he hadn’t been shown so many hand-to-hand moves by Boil, he would have lost. Well, if the fight had gone on any longer than the few moments that it had, he probably would have lost. At least, if Luke hadn’t used the Force. But that would blow their cover.

It was sharp and ruthless with fast strikes that were almost always some kind of hit, whether or not it was the area that it was intended. And for absolute certain, Luke knew he would hurt and be so sore tomorrow. Well, if he liveduntil tomorrow. And by the way things were going with this fight, he wasn’t entirely so sure he would.

“Luke!”

“Echo!”

The two of them had stopped so abruptly that they both stumbled, nearing falling over one another as they tripped over themselves to stand up and move away, one from the other. Luke felt like he was coughing up the dust the two fighters had kicked into the air, but it was difficult to get enough air in his lungs. He was tired. Ben and another trooper, longer hair and a bandana were standing in their sight line, looking quite unimpressed and frowning, expectantly.

“Ben!”

“General Kenobi?”

Luke’s head whipped around to the side, where his opponent was, eyes wide and shocked. The man had ripped off his dark helmet to stare and Luke tried to prevent his double take. Because…. well, because he looked like Boil. Well, not exactly. He didn’t really have much in the way of hair and his skin was a bit ashen, but they looked so similar. Meaning this was a clone. Luke glanced back at Ben and the other man. Another clone.

“Echo,” Ben greeted, quiet and soft with a slight bow. His presence softened at the sight of this former soldier that he knew but he was still guarded, shielded. Luke struggled to understand this sometimes, but Ben had believed the clones had betrayed the jedi and killed all of his family and people for well over a decade. That caution wasn’t just going to go away. But he was trying, and he did his best. “It is good to see you alive and well.”

“Is it?” the clone – Echo – sputtered, obviously a bit surprised at the statement. “Because I have a hard time being glad to see…people like us, knowing what happened.” Luke knew what he was alluding to; how could he not. Everyone knew what had happened, even though there were different stories surrounding it, depending on who one heard it from.

“I know about the chips,” Ben swallowed as his eyes softened further in grief, something misty and far away, like he wasn’t quite in the present. It was for everyone involved, rather tragic. The jedi dead and the troopers brainwashed; the galaxy gone and under the tyranny of the new Galactic Empire. “We found out a few months ago. I am so sorry.”

“I feel like I should be saying that to you,” Echo muttered, shaking his head while the other clone just looked between the both of them. He wondered who he was exactly and how he knew them. “I shouldn’t be surprised you are alive. The 212thalways had rumors about you.”

“Rumors?” Ben mused, an eyebrow raising curiously.

“Yeah. Some of them thought you were unkillable.”

Ben scoffed with several different and varying emotions running through it, some Luke couldn’t quite identify with any amount of certainty. “That is rather ridiculous but, I suppose, their faith in me is… it would have been nice, if things hadn’t worked out the way they did,” Ben said. “I hear you are chasing a bounty. On Luke and myself.”

Echo blinked and shot a glance at Luke before turning back to Ben. “Uh… yes sir. Although, in our defense, we didn’t know it was you.”

“No worries,” Ben shrugged and tucked his hands into the large sleeves of the overcoat of his robe. “And I think you can drop the sir. I am no longer your superior officer, much less a general.”

Echo just smirked faintly. “Of course, sir.”

“Hunter and I just wanted to make sure you and Luke didn’t kill each other,” Ben responded, his tone filling with a form of amusement. “Would you mind keeping him company or entertained while we speak?”

The trooper just nodded. As the two of them walked off to have their talk with the assurance that the clone and boy did not, in fact, kill one another or would for that matter, Echo turned back towards Luke and tried to smile, offering his good hand for Luke to shake. He did, of course. It was only polite. “Sorry about, ya know, hitting you in the face, kid.”

“You can call me Luke,” the younger boy replied but he forced himself to look at him. It was a bit difficult with the similar facial structure of his friend. They looked virtually nothing alike aside from that. Boil had more hair and a bit of a scowl, and his presence was oh so vastly different. Neither were bad or better, but it just kind of made Luke miss Boil. “I’m sorry for nearly busting your vambrace,” he added, gesturing towards the slightly sparking tech inside. Echo just winced but then shrugged and pulled up his other arm which…had a machine attached to it.

“I’ve got it,” he added as he started to poke at it. “Those moves looked familiar. Considering General Kenobi knew about the chips, I guess it is safe to say that you two came in contact with some troopers.”

Luke nodded.

“Anyone I might know?”

“I don’t know in particular if you knew them,” Luke replied as the two of them walked through the little marketplace, slow and steady. Echo continued to work a bit on his partially broken vambrace, and Luke kept his gaze on the varying items that were out for sale in the market. “Commander Cody and Sergeant Boil we found on Vader’s ship.”

The clone paused and stared at him, just kicking up as he stopped in his tracks. Luke paused enough to glance at him, a bit startled. “That…is a lot to unpack. I’m going to skip over the whole Lord Vader thing for now. Cody is alive?”

Luke hesitated and looked away. “No. He’s not.”

Echo sagged in disappointment, but they continued to walk. “Oh…so you…you learned some stuff from the other guy, Boil.”

“He was a part of the 212th, Ben’s immediate battalion,” Luke explained. He didn’t know if Echo knew in particular but he just thought it would be best to clarify. “He was with us for several months before Ben sent him away. He taught me some things and told me a ton of stories. About Ben and the 212th, about Cody, about him and his brother Waxer and all the others.”

“You like stories?”

Luke tried not to look sheepish when he nodded in affirmation.

Echo just grinned. “I have plenty of stories. And trust me, they are some of the most insane and fantastical stories you will hear. My brother, Fives, and I were amidst all sorts of action alongside our general. They called him the Hero with No Fear and he was…something else. His name was Anakin Skywalker.”

*

Luke barely got to hear a fraction of what Echo had to offer and it just made him even more upset when Ben told him they had to go their separate ways. He wanted more. He needed more. Echo was fun and his stories great and they were about his father! Oh, he wanted to know more!

But Ben was stern, and Hunter was anxious to get back to the rest of their party. Luke somehow convinced them to give the two jedi a ride to their destination, which Ben very reluctantly finally caved to. Luke had a few more minutes and he would use it to the best of his ability. Their destination, as Ben pointed out, was a fairly natural looking structure for Lothal’s environment and the two clones had left near immediately after dropping them off. Luke’s heart just felt heavy.

Ben explained that it was a Jedi Temple and that they would both have to use the force to make the entrance known. It took them a fair amount of time, possibly due to their conflicting feelings on the past events and Luke’s bitterness. But, eventually, it happened and the Temple unraveled to reveal its door way, coming up from the ground.

Ben didn’t say a word.

They walked in. It was musty and disgusting but there was a brief and faint scent of freshness, possibly from someone opening the Temple recently. At least before the last two hundred years. Luke voiced this out loud.

“I would believe so,” Ben hummed as he looked around, running a hand along one of the pillars with a kind of sad reverence. “This is a Jedi Temple and I do believe we will find some guidance here.”

“Guidance for what?”

“Whoever knows,” Ben replied, letting the torches light up in small flickers of flames that lit their way. There were a few skeletons around the floor near the columns. Neither of them tried to look at them, rather avoided them and kept walking deeper. “The Force may use the Temple for varying lessons for any one of us and it is a good place to be to learn something. I dare say you could use some guidance that is not from me.”

Luke just glanced away and swallowed.

It hadn’t been easy between the two of them, that was for sure.

“Are we…splitting up?”

“Your journey is your own,” Ben replied, calm and kind, although there was something underneath that Luke couldn’t identify. “Just as mine will be mine. Why don’t you start that way? It smells less musty.”

Luke glanced to where he gestured. “Okay,” he replied and looked back to Ben, but he had already disappeared. Even for someone at his age with as much grey hairs as he had, he was surprisingly quick and sneaky. “Okay,” he repeated to himself with a sharp exhale. He turned towards the doorway and took one of the torches before heading in.

He didn’t know how long he walked or how he lost his torch. For a while, he was in the dark. Everything was so silent it was eerie and rather disturbing, making Luke exceptionally uncomfortable.

And then. And then things changed.

And that change was so sudden and so real and the reason he was here seemed to mush in his mind. He didn’t exactly remember where he was or what exactly he was supposed to be doing. But he stopped when he felt it. Luke stepped into a gorgeous garden, grass tickling at his legs, soft and lush with the crashing of waterfalls bubbling over his ears. It was a sound he would never get bored of; ever since the first time he had seen one. There were walkways winding around the land, with patches of flowers and a few trees, full bearing of fruit and leaves, dotting the grounds. It was so beautiful.

He wanted to know off his boots and just…relish in the feeling.

It was warm here. Not the kind of heat that was oppressive and ongoing and just made one want to lie down in their room and not move, ever. But the kind that would come and go just enough for comfort, something of joy and kindness. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, taking in those good feelings and the brisk freshness of the air.

There was a joyful shout, and he opened his eyes. Ther were children running over a hill chasing one another and reaching out with huge grins on their faces and sparkling eyes full of laughter and playfulness. Luke blinked.

And then again.

There were…people here?

He paused and stared in wonderment. Maybe…maybe they were jedi. They were in a Temple. Right? That was where he was. Right, right, he and Ben had went into a Jedi Temple. Made sense, perhaps, that there would be remnants of jedi here…right?

Maybe there were survivors.

Survivors, Luke thought numbly. It sounded too good to be true. He had to find Ben. He had to tell him what he had discovered.

“Luke!” a voice called, cheerfully. He spun around and stared at the being, blankly as a he strode up; a Kel Dor if he wasn’t mistaken, walked to him, hands tucked into his sleeves, similar to the way Ben did when he was wearing a large cloak. “Initiate Luke,” he corrected with a chuckle and although his face was incapable of smiling with the mask that he wore, Luke was pretty sure he was grinning on the inside.

“Initiate?” Luke echoed, questioningly.

“Yes,” the being chuckled again and gestured to him up and down. “The step before becoming a padawan, of course.” Luke looked down at the light-colored tunics he was in. These…were not his clothes.

“I can be a padawan?” he murmured.

“Of course!” the Kel Dor teased but he sounded warm and kind, although a bit surprised on Luke’s questioning about his place here. “You have done very well in your classes. You are well on your way to becoming a great jedi.”

“There are no more jedi…besides Ben,” Luke replied numbly as his mind sparked. Of course, Ben. That was what he was supposed to do. He needed to find Ben, tell him about this, about these…jedi he had discovered. At least, Luke thought they were jedi.

“Nonsense, Initiate,” the Kel Dor said, with a light shake of his head, amusement filling his voice. He waved around the garden, gesturing to other beings that had now entered and were mingling around. There were so many, of different ages and appearances and species. Most were speaking to one another, in groups of two to several. “There are many,” he assured as he made Luke look. “And you must only choose.”

“Choose?” he sounded too much like an echo.

“A master.”

Sure enough, some of those around were speaking with children that were dressed like Luke. Some were hugging, being led away by the respective masters with their hand or appendage in the other’s. They were choosing and being chosen, Luke realized. Initiates being chosen as padawans. Initiates choosing their masters.

“I can choose?”

“Well,” the being pointed out as he put a hand on Luke’s shoulder. He nearly startled; only Ben and Boil had generally touched him. The Kel Dor didn’t seem to notice. “It is a mutual thing. However, I was hoping to ask you.”

“Ask me?”

“To be my padawan,” the master suggested and turned to face him straight on. “You are kind, driven and compassionate. You would do well under my tutelage. What do you say, Initiate? Would you like to be my padawan?”

Luke stared for an embarrassingly long time because that just…it seemed impossible. He had always wanted to be a jedi; especially a padawan, for as long as he knew what a padawan was. Ben never technically denied him outright or said no. Rather, he would just tell him how dangerous that term was, and they had better not speak of it again. Luke didn’t always listen. “I…I’m sorry, sir – master – but I don’t think so. I need to find my guardian.”

“Unfortunate,” the master hummed, shaking his head and he sounded genuinely disappointed. Luke hated doing that to him but something about this just didn’t seem right. Something else at play. “Good luck, I suppose then. I hope you find what you are looking for.”

“I’m looking for Ben,” Luke replied, glancing around. When he turned back, the Kel Dor was gone. It was like he had disappeared right out of the thin air. After what Luke had seen Ben do, he couldn’t be terrible surprised if the jedi had been capable of that, but he thought it was rather unlikely. “This is rather strange.”

“Quite not,” someone else said. Another master was behind him again and Luke turned around towards him. He was older, with long greying hair.

“Master…?” he questioned.

He frowned. “Master Drallig. Better work on that memory, initiate. A master will not want to train a child who cannot even remember their name.”

“Yes master,” he replied.

“You are up next.”

“Up?”

“The Exhibition match,” Master Drallig frowned deeper. “Come on, initiate! Get your head in the game! Prospective masters are watching.”

“Of course. Of course,” Luke nodded and jogged off to where the master gestured. Even though he had no idea where this was, what was happening or what exactly he was supposed to be doing, his body seemed to know, and he just moved with it. He spent hours in the exhibition, sparring and fighting against other students, moving on to next rounds as he won bouts.

It was like he had been training and readying himself for this for his entire life. And it was an amazing feeling.

Luke didn’t know if he won the exhibition match or, rather, if anyone had or could. He just remembered doing several fights and moving on until he found himself back in the depths of the garden again, away from the tournament itself and amidst other masters. He was having an increasingly difficult time reminding himself that this wasn’t real and his goal here.

All he knew was that this was his chance to become a padawan.

He just had to find someone that felt right.

So, Luke went through the garden, every so often someone asking him to be their padawan but none of them felt quite right. Or perhaps they felt too right to be true. It hardly mattered; something niggled in the back of his mind, reminding him he had a goal and a purpose. He just kept forgetting what that was exactly. He was getting desperate. Nothing felt quite right. But he was running out of time and options. It was getting harder to say no. By the time Qui-Gon Jinn came around with his request, there were barely any masters left. He was so kind and gentle and a familiar face. Luke wanted to wrap himself in the cloak like he did with…

Ben!

Luke stuttered and took off, leaving Master Jinn without an answer. Rude, perhaps, but Luke was running out of time. He had to find Ben. Because Ben. The light that appeared before him was blinding and devastating but Luke knew. He knew. It was his father.

“Hey kiddo.”

Luke swallowed. This…this was something he had always wanted. To meet his father. It seemed like an impossible dream. Because it was. Impossible.

His father began to speak and oh! Was Luke so starstruck! It was his father! The famous jedi! The hero with no fear! Ben’s friend, his brother…

Luke stopped.

Ben.

“I’m sorry,” he croaked out. “I can’t talk. I have to find Ben.”

His father stared at him with a serious frown, his face perfect and smooth, with the locks of his hair framing his face that made Luke too easily calm. He looked right; perfect. Like Luke had always imagined his father to be. There was something missing about his face, but Luke couldn’t quite put his finger on what. He supposed, at this point, it hardly mattered. “Isn’t this what you always wanted? Your greatest dream? To meet me? To talk to me?”

“I have to find Ben before it’s too late,” Luke tried to reason, and he found it difficult to tear his eyes away from his father to look around for his guardian.

“So, he’s more important than me? I am your father!”

“And I want to be a jedi. Like you. Like Ben.”

“I can teach you, I can teach you much better than that insecure relic of an age long gone,” his father insisted, determined and strong. Luke’s brows just scrunched together with a deepening frown because that didn’t quite sound right. His father loved Ben, they were friends, brothers. He couldn’t imagine him saying something rather rude and disrespectful like this about him. “I am your father.”

“I know,” Luke replied with a hard swallow. So much was running through his head. It was so hard to keep track. “But this…I need to do this. I want to be a jedi and that means sacrifice. Letting go.”

His father reeled back and scowled, his eyes blazing with heat and color and lines scratching into the sides of his face, barely noticeable but it was almost all Luke could see. “You would trade this – everything you ever wanted – me, the jedi, this world, for him?”

“This isn’t real,” Luke responded, sadly as he forced himself to stare at his father, into his eyes. Direct and resolute. “And Ben…even if he wasn’t destined to be my jedi master, I would choose him every time,” he backed away, one foot after another. It had started out slow, but he knew he didn’t have a lot of time. “I will still dream of truly meeting you,” he said and then began to run. It was all he could do to keep himself from staying, from staying and losing everything else but the feeling of dreams. All he could feel was the heat burning into his back as he ran off. And he just kept running. His feet began to ache, and he tripped over them in embarrassing frequency.

“Ben!”

Nothing.

“BEN!”

Still nothing. There was no one in sight of the garden anymore.

“Ben! Please!” he begged, finally tripping to a halt. He nearly fell, exhausted and out of breath as he tried to catch up. He didn’t have much more time; it was running out. “Please. Please. I just…I just want to be a jedi.” His chest started to heave, and tears threatened to overtake his vision. “Please.”

There was a brief silence.

“Well, if a jedi is all you wanted to be, there were plenty of masters willing to teach you. I have no doubt you had plenty of offers.”

Luke scrambled to turn because that voice; oh he knew that voice. “Ben!” he cried, happily, tears coming out in relief as he caught sight of his guardian. He looked a bit younger, less weary. The bags under his eyes were less noticeable and the only real wrinkles around his face were that in the corners of his eyes from smiling.

“Hello, Beacon.”

“I want to be a jedi,” he promised as he got closer to him. “I hope you never question my commitment.”

Ben hummed. “You have made your desire to become a jedi rather clear. You had plenty of chance. Master Koon, Master Jinn, even your father.”

“You saw that?”

He smiled but shrugged. “You said no to all of them. Why?”

“Because of you.”

“I’m holding you back?” he asked, incredulously. He looked torn and almost offended, almost horrified at the prospect. It was laughable to Luke but apparently Ben had taken that very seriously. Luke wondered what that meant; why he would react in such a way.

Luke choked out a laugh and shook his head, rather vehemently. “No Ben. Never. I didn’t want anyone else. And I know it’s important. You are always my choice. You were always my choice.”

Present Past

Luke

Iyah, one of the slaves that Siri and Luke had freed from the little temporary quarters that the troopers had been held in had a hiding place for them until the group figured out what to do next. Siri still had her disguise of a slave trader and with all the traffic and bustle of the up-and-coming auction, it was easy to move and blend in with the crowds when Luke and Siri’s smoke bombs erupted upon Luke’s presence being found missing. Iyah’s former master had died as of recently and she was in the auction house because her master’s family was going to sell her. It would be some time before the rest of the family went through all of his things and house, so they had a fairly secure hiding place until then. Luke didn’t think that they would be at the house that long.

The smoke from their little distraction is noticeable, even to those out in the streets and far from the palace but they were practically harmless. Just enough to mask their presence and allow them to escape. Wrapping the troopers in cloaks, they moved through the curious crowds that watched as the smoke puffed from the palace windows and doors.

The house that Iyah brings them to is out of the way and not something that someone would come to immediately, as it is just a bit off the streets. The other slaves mostly huddled on their own, leaving the jedi and troopers to their own devices but Iyah just eyes Luke up, warily and announces her intention to make food for everyone as she comes back to bring them a first aid kit; probably one that she knew her master had on hand. Most beings had something of the sort.

“You don’t have to do that, ma’am,” Captain Rex tried to assure her quickly, in some attempt to convince her that she had nothing to fear from them; that she had no obligation to feed any of them.

Luke met her eyes for a moment, and she frowned at the trooper, but she doesn’t say anything. She just turned and nearly stormed back to the kitchen.

Fives was itching to speak, to ask for answers. Luke didn’t have to be force sensitive to know how eager and pressed he was for such things. He didn’t want to explain everything at the moment; he hurt, and he was tired, but he knew it was inevitable. Eventually, Fives could not quite continue to keep it all in. It hadn’t been long. Most of them were still trying to just catch their breath.

“I think it is about time you tell us what is going on,” Fives started, his jaw clenching. If nothing else, Luke had to admire his persistence and pursuit for answers and justice.

Luke sighed and tried to sit up further. They were all on the floor, mostly collapsed over themselves in their exhaustion but Waxer helped him and let him lean against his solid shoulder. “I can tell him about some things, if you want,” he suggested, gently.

The boy knew the trooper was being genuine. Boil had told Luke so much about Waxer in the months that he had with him, and he didn’t seem to downplay how kind and good Waxer was. Luke hoped he could keep him alive, if only for Boil’s sake but he couldn’t help but value him above and beyond. He hadn’t been around for long but trusting Waxer felt near like second nature.

“I knew you were keeping secrets,” Fives frowned at the Lieutenant, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. Waxer, took it in stride, barely shrugging and projecting a show of simple acceptance. Fives kept going with a stream of questions and a demand for answers. “What do you know? What is going on? Does this have anything to do with what happened with Krell? Or why we were put under him and not ourGeneral. Or how about the fact that General Kenobi came back to the Resolute on a stretcher?”

“One at a time, Fives,” Rex interrupted, flatly with a tired sigh. It perhaps, wasn’t exactly the right thing to say at the moment.

“And you, you have been keeping secrets too,” Fives shot at him, his frowning deepening. He was so frustrated and scared; Luke could feel it. He couldn’t entirely blame the trooper; the situation was intense and strange. Sometimes with one’s most intense emotions, in the moment, they could not be shielded. It was easier for a jedi because they trained for that sort of thing, but most other beings didn’t even know the existence of shields; not really. “You know it as well but decided, hey, let’s not tell your troops. Maybe some of them would still be alive if you had.”

Rex’s jaw clenched and Luke lurched forward, ready to defend. It wasn’t his fault and Luke hardly thought it mattered knowing what he knew would have changed anything. Luke hadn’t known specifically Krell was a traitor or any specifics on the Umbara campaign but that didn’t make the losses they encountered hurt any less.

“Enough,” Master Tachi nearly barked. She was still standing for a moment and towered over the rest of them, coming back from getting some pillows and blankets from the others. They weren’t great, probably not even that comfortable, but it would do. “This is getting none of us anywhere. I am certain they all have good explanations for what information they have and the lack of flow of it.” At the very least, she seemed to believe it.

Luke shook his head, mostly to himself, and tried to organize his thoughts and what exactly he would say. He didn’t want to tell the 501st, only because of how close they were with his father and due to Palpatine being around his father all the time… secrecy was crucial. “Look, okay,” he started, trying to catch up with himself. It was not particularly easy. He didn’t even know if they would believe him. Others had taken it fairly well; the 212th’s faith in Ben and Cody’s reasoning was helpful, as well as Master Vos’s abilities. But most of these guys were from the 501st; Luke didn’t know if they had that type of faith or belief. “This is…the galaxy depends on total, complete and absolute secrecy. Absolute. You cannot tell anyone,” he stressed as best he could.

“Why not?” Jesse asked, genuinely curious.

“We have to be very careful on the flow of this because there are people we cannot trust and I don’t know all of them,” Luke started to explain, his voice nearly rocky as he spoke. He didn’t particularly want to because well, it was complicated and in all honesty, he had no idea what exactly all he would be revealing to these people. “I don’t know all the people I cannot trust in this time,” he tried to clarify with a bit of a wince. “Some of the 212th knows a bit of what I explained, but for the most part, only Master Vos, Commander Cody and maybe Ben…er Master Kenobi knows most of it.”

Rex tensed up a little, his eyes turning a bit sharper as he stared at Luke at the mention of his closest brother. Luke tried to ignore the shielded feelings Rex was hiding. They weren’t exactly the most positive ones and Luke’s heightened ability with the force let him see, even through some of the thickest of shields. It wasn’t something he particularly liked but sometimes it seemed too apparent for him to ignore. And in Rex’s case, he found out that one of his closest brother was keeping secrets from him. “Cody knows all of what you know?”

“I explained some things to him,” Luke confessed, not quite meeting Rex’s eyes. He barely got to know Cody at all in the future; as they were only with one another for an hour or two, but he had heard plenty from both Ben and Boil. “Please don’t get mad at him. It’s my family. I’m sorry. I asked him not to tell you.”

“Why?” Rex replied steadily, keeping his voice completely void of too many feelings that Luke could feel. “You seemed like you trusted me.”

“I do,” Luke insisted quickly and then, embarrassingly enough, his mouth ran off with him. “You aren’t the breach.”

“The breach?” Rex’s brows creased as he stared at the boy. “Who is?”

“If you act strange, Skywalker will know…” Luke drifted off, uneasily as his hands shuffled in his lap his gaze turning down. Speaking of his father was strange, especially when he was very strict on not letting anyone know what Anakin was too him. He still had to wrap his own head around all of this; he didn’t need everyone else’s opinions and thoughts on the matter yet.

“No way. NotGeneral Skywalker,” Fives insisted, nearly moving to stand up to make his point. Both Jesse and Tup pulled him down to keep him sitting but Fives was absolute. “He is loyal to the Republic; whatever happened… it is not his fault.”

Luke ignored him, fiddling with his hands. It wasn’t completely complicated he thought, at least, the line of who should and should not know the future, but it was complicated for Luke. Being in the era with his father, when he is so young and not completely evil and trying to kill him and such, it was strange. It would only be stranger when Ben came to get him, and he had to explain why he wasn’t geekingout over the fact he was getting to meet the man. “Look, a lot happened and a lot more that I don’t know. And then the Chancellor will get wind of things,” he replied, slowly, unsure how this would end up going. It was certainly an intense accusation and not one he was completely sure how others would react to. “He is not someone we can trust.”

There was a brief moment of absolute silence.

And then…

“You can’t be serious?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“This is absolutely ridiculous!”

“He’s the leaderof the Republic.”

“Why don’t you want him to know?”

“How do you know about this?”

“What happened?”

“What did he do?”

“The Chancellor…how bad is it?” Siri asked, her voice rising above the others; something stern but calm and solid. Luke wasn’t entirely sure if it was actually louder or just something he could hear better over the others. She looked over at him, believing and serious. It was hard to wrap his head around. She just…believed him. She didn’t even know who he was. He didn’t know how she had that kind of faith in him or why she did, but he was incredibly grateful.

“The worst you can imagine,” he choked out.

Siri paused and took a seat near him with a few moments of silence to mull this over. Everyone let her have the moment, trying not to stare as she took what time she was given to think about things and come to her own conclusion. “The Sith master,” she guessed, her jaw clenching as she said it and glanced up at him. He nodded. “How do you know this?”

He hesitated and glanced at Waxer, who nodded encouragingly, and then Rex who just stared, ready and knowing. Luke turned back to Siri, eyes glazing over the others while he could vaguely feel Waxer’s presence near him. “Well…” he started, shifting, still uneasy. He sighed and then took another breath, readying himself for actually saying it again and the fallout of what he was about to reveal. “I guess the simplest way to say it is that I am from the future.”

“Now I know you’re kidding,” Fives shook his head as an only partially amused smile stretched on his face, but he turned serious and partially irritated as he continued with a scoff. “That is your big secret? Some sort of sick prank? What was this? Some terrible plan convoluted to try and get Dooku’s attention or something? I have no idea what your plan or goal was but guess what? It didn’t work.”

“He’s not lying,” Waxer insisted, leaning towards Luke and forward towards Fives at the same time, protective and relentless. He calmed himself but continued, just as strong and solid and ready. “Originally,” he glanced over at the boy. “Luke was born a little over a year from now, right when the war ends.”

“We have a year left?” Checkerboard whined.

“Who wins?”

“The Sith win,” Luke pushed out because it was the truth. Everyone else had been losers in this war because even though the jedi and troopers did everything they could to protect people, it was still a trap. Mostly for the jedi of course, but for this, in this, it turned out just as horrible for the troopers as well. “No one really wins but him. Trust me. The galaxy after the war is so much worse.”

“The Jedi….” Waxer sighed and Luke took his hand, squeezing it, gentle and assuring. Luke hadn’t been around at the time; he hadn’t been a jedi. But Waxer, even though he was technically around, he had taken it even worse than some of the others. Even the prospect of this happening, to them, to anyone, was horrifying. But it was something that it appeared he needed to get through. “The Jedi are killed, virtually all of them. And we do it. There are…some kind of chips in our brains that make us practically droids and we kill all of them.”

The silence was palpable.

No one could even completely imagine the implications of what he was saying.

“It’s gotta come out,” Rex said suddenly, shuddering out of his stupor. Fives reached out for him, but Rex jerked out of the way, and he stood up, as if that would make some kind of difference. “I work closely with Commander Tano! She’s fifteen!”

“We have to wait until we get back to the ship,” Waxer answered instead, looking up kindly and understanding. “We can’t do it now.”

“I need it out,” Rex muttered.

“Can’t you just use your jedi magic to get it out?” Checkerboard asked.

“I…” Luke shifted. “No. I can’t. I have the power but not the precision. Me and Ben, we had to do it together when we didn’t have medical equipment. I did it by accident with Boil.”

“How did you do it with him?”

“I uh…kind of slammed him into a wall,” Luke replied with a sheepish look.

“If you and General Kenobi were able to do that, can’t you and General Tachi do the same thing?”

Luke winced. “No. Not that she isn’t capable, but we don’t know each other, not like that. It’s hard to explain.”

“General Kenobi will be here quickly,” Waxer assured. “And when he does, we can get out of here and you can get the chip out.” Afterwards, Luke got himself around to talking a bit more on what was going on, although not giving quite enough as he did in the first time around with those in the 212th that Commander Cody had brought with him. The troopers popped in with questions that Luke tried to answer the best he could, but Master Tachi stayed quiet, waiting and listening quietly.

“He lived through it,” Siri says, near inaudibly, shaking her head. The troopers were talking amongst one another, although he wasn’t entirely sure what they were talking about; he just stared at the master. This was kind of amazing, he thought, getting to meet so many people that he had never thought he would be able to. His father, Master Vos, Master freaking Siri Tachi. “The genocide and devastation of the jedi; our people. Of course he did. As if he hadn’t gone through enough.”

Their gazes met and he tried to shoot her a small smile.

The door opened and Iyah brought them a few trays of food. Luke recognized the meal; he had seen it once in a while when Aunt Beru helped out fleeing or freed slaves back on Tatooine when he was a child. He accepted it gratefully with a quiet thank you in another tongue and they ate for a moment in quiet and peace, although the knowledge about the chips were still hanging over their heads. Every time someone tried to say something, they were shut down within moments.

By the time they were done with the meal, Master Tachi politely excused herself and Luke as well, to his surprise and pulled him out of the room. It was a flimsy excuse that Luke thought sounded rather ridiculous, but the troopers seemed to buy. Maybe this was a jedi thing. He hoped he would get to learn. She took the first aid kit with her and sat him down at a table away from the others.

“Come on, take off the armor,” she said.

Luke blinked but did what he was told.

“Dooku gave you some nice robes,” she murmured but barely waited a second for an answer. “Take them off please. I know you have a wound underneath there. You want to tell me how you got it?”

Luke continued to do as he was told and tried to wrangle himself out of the dark robes, after he carefully set aside the armor pieces in a pile nearby. “A lightsaber. He wanted to watch me fight Krell again.”

Her eyebrows creased. “Krell? As in Pong Krell?”

“He’s a traitor,” Luke muttered.

“Why were you with him?”

“We fought on Umbara. I…we almost won,” Luke replied, as she started to clean and disinfect the area around the wound. It hurt to move, most of the time, and he hated looking at it. Vaguely, he wondered if it would scar. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He explained how Krell had set up the troops during the campaign and how Luke had just barely stopped it in time, although not early enough it seemed.

“You were alone?” she noted with a frown.

“Ask. I know you want to,” Luke just smiled, faintly.

“You know who I was,” she continued, barely sparing him a glance.

“Yes. Ben…uhm… Obi-Wan talked about you,” he nearly ducked with the embarrassment. No one knew him as Ben around here, no one but him. He would have to get used to calling him by his given name. Or, if he was really lucky, perhaps Master Kenobi. Or something of the sort. Long had Luke wanted to be a padawan – Ben’s padawan – but things were doing so fast and so far, he tried not to cling to that type of hope.

“You can call him Ben,” Siri shrugged, lightly as she smiled gently at him. “I understand who you refer to.”

The conversation wasn’t exactly light at all times, but it bounced around a lot. Neither of them had a particular direction they were going through, although, of course, it would mostly be about Obi-wan. He was really the only thing they both had in common. What Luke knew about her wasn’t a whole ton as a person, as Ben tended to tell him the best and most amazing things about the people he loved, but Luke was not against getting to know her now, while he still could. He had no idea how long he would be able to stay in the past; if this was his present now or if he would have to return to his own. “He carried around your warming crystal every day,” Luke said instead, trying to catch Siri’s eyes. He did and she looked down at her necklace, a thin rope that wrapped around a near pulsing and slightly luminescent crystal.

She looked back up at him and stopped for a moment to stare.

Luke didn’t know what it meant but he knew what to say. “He loves you.”

Ben was full of love. It was something that Luke had known for a long time. How different it must be, as Ben in this time and place had so many people to love that were still alive. The entirety of the Jedi Order, the troops he had befriended, his other friends across the galaxy, those he had loved in a slightly different way… it was no longer the kind nostalgia and memory type of love that Luke knew.

These people were alive now; at the very least, some of them. This would change so much. And he couldn’t wait to feel that type of love in Ben for this time. He was kind, of course, even when they were on the run. Luke could feel it when they met people, especially those Luke knew. Any troopers they came across, Cody and Boil and Bail Organa. And Master Vos; oh, Luke had remembered how happy Obi-Wan had felt; the love he had projected. Luke rarely questioned Ben’s love: he tried to show it in many ways that may have not always been the most apparent.

“I’ve known that for a very long time,” Siri replied, her voice quiet and kind. She hesitated and smiled to herself, as if remembering something amusing but important. “He loves so many, so much. It often brings him so much pain.”

No matter what Obi-Wan lost, he still kept being himself, in the light, was still giving out his kindness. “He told me about you,” Luke confessed, his chest warming. He never really got to talk about this, as Ben was almost always the only person he could talk to. It just wasn’t the same.

“What did he say?” She couldn’t help her curiosity, looking up at him with an amused but cautious glance, her lips curling up just enough.

He matched her expression. “I can’t imagine you being unable to guess.”

She grinned, her smile widening into something more mischievous. “Indulge me.”

“He knew you well, the longest I suppose. At least, it seemed like it, out of the people he loved in that way,” he explained, his smile softening as he thought back to the things he had learned from Ben over the years and what he could pull out of the older jedi. There was times Ben was easier to get answers from and other times Luke had to beg for something; anything. He didn’t like to guilt trip, but it was easy sometimes, there was very little else to do when they were in hyperspace, stuck in the tiny little space that was their ship for so many years. “You knew him, well, perhaps better than most, I think. He seemed to think so. He’s sad a lot of things. How talented you were with a lightsaber, strong willed and independent; determined and so focused. He said you were beautiful and had short blonde hair and liked jumpsuits. And you know, the obvious, that you were amazing.”

Siri choked down a laugh.

Luke didn’t give her enough time to answer and continued, glancing down at his hands and stripped his gloves from them. “I asked him about those he had fell in love with after I asked about my mother,” he explained quietly. “I don’t think it was easy for him to talk about that, considering his past, but I was young. I didn’t understand and I…I wanted to know.”

“Who is your mother?”

He shifted around, suddenly uneasy. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Master Tachi because of course he did. Even if he didn’t trust her just from what Ben had told him and such, she had helped him, had gotten him out of Dooku’s clutches and helped him rescue the troopers. But this was a whole different level and honestly, Luke had never had to deal with this before. His parents, they were alive, and he had to deal with that, eventually. “It’s complicated.”

“It’s someone Obi-Wan knew,” she mused, unfazed by his inability to give a straight answer. “Rather well, if he had such answers for you. If he could describe her and tell you about her in a way that would make you ask.”

“Master Tachi,” Luke warned, swallowing heavily.

“Senator Padme Amidala.”

Oh wow, she was good.

“How did you know?”

“I am rather observant,” she shrugged. “Comes with the job, I suppose. One has to be in my line of work. I’ve met her a couple of times. Obi-Wan has talked about her too, as he often is around her and working with her. At least, more than some others. Between those things and when you saw collars on the clones…” she drifted off, pointedly. He swallowed nervously, glancing down.

“Your initial anger was Skywalker. Something almost personal and hot; I could feel it through the Force; it burned through my shields, even though we do not have a bond. It was easy to know, and I know it well, as I have trained around Skywalker plenty of times before. The cold fury, however, was Obi-Wan. You didn’t scream and hit something; you weren’t exactly calm, but you weren’t crazy either; just furious. It is something I have seen him do to hide his anger when he was older and it is very cold. But how you handled it? With the righteous fury and reckless abandon, with making a snap choice with little plan? To free the slaves, you could and get them out of there? I’ve seen that kind of thing before when I have been in Senate meetings or hearing about them even. I’ve seen it before. That is all Padme Amidala.”

Luke looked up to stare at her in some kind of awe because he had barely told her anything about his parents. He had barely told anyone anything about his parents. Cody knew simply from knowing Obi-Wan and remembering a holo he had shown. Master Vos knew it from Luke’s own memories. But Siri, she simply deduced. Ben wasn’t kidding when he said she was amazing. It made the boy wonder about the others Ben had known as amazing and how great they were in their respective talents. “I…you are as good as Ben says,” he confessed.

“That’s nothing,” she shrugged, and Luke had to believe it. Or, at the very least, Siri herself believed it wasn’t that impressive. Luke couldn’t quite tell if it was confidence or ego or simple honesty; he didn’t know her or anyone else for that matter, like that. “Obi-Wan and I…our padawans were around the same age,” she explained, and brought back up bacta patches to put on his wound to help it heal up quicker and cleaner. “We did missions together. Trained together. I’ve known Skywalker as a teenager. You have his sandy blonde hair and unstoppable drive.”

He really hoped that was a good thing. He had only ever really had Ben’s perspective and thoughts on his father which were a bit skewed. It wasn’t that they were wrong, but Luke knew for certain that he didn’t tell him whole truths, not nearly as much about the faults. It had taken Luke quite some time to understand exactly why. The fact of the matter was Ben had wanted Luke to love his father, to know him as his best self rather than the faults and monster that he eventually became. It had been hard to swallow for some time and Luke still wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about it; it was something he continuously had to work through and was. “Wow…you really figured that out quick.”

“With your whole-time travel thing,” she leaned back a bit to get a better look at his wound and brought out the bandages to keep the bacta on, as well as clean alongside the wound itself. “And Obi-Wan knowing your parents so well to tell you about them….I was just open to any possibility. That is hardly the craziest option.”

“I’m not my father.”

She glanced at him, certainly a form of understanding in her gaze. He wondered what that meant. How she could understand such a thing, from which he was feeling. It was something he had to tell himself since he had learned what his father had become. Before that, he wanted nothing more to be like his father. Ben had told Luke some of the most fantastical things about Anakin Skywalker and how much Luke would have been loved by him. How much he was loved. Ben didn’t generally make comparisons between them like that; it was rather a seldom occurrence. But after learning Anakin Skywalker was Darth Vader, the beast that was constantly chasing and trying to kill them; it had taken Luke a length of time to come to terms with several different things that were connected to that. Whether or not Anakin Skywalker was evil or not, Luke wasn’t him. He shouldn’t be him. Luke should be Luke.

He was still trying to figure out who that was.

“Of course not,” Master Tachi assured readily. “You are Luke.”

“No, I mean…” he sighed. She was right, of course, but that wasn’t quite the point he was trying to make. But, as the moment passed, she seemed to understand still.

“I understand,” Siri nodded. “You are not Anakin Skywalker and similarities or comparisons between the two of you doesn’t mean you do or say the same things. Blood is not everything.”

He nodded and glanced away as she got up to start wrapping around his shoulder and torso, weaving between his appendage to get the best available lock for the bandages with the best range of motion. For some reason, the conversation skipped over again. He didn’t really want to talk about his father; he knew that would certainly be coming in the future. “I hope he came back with me.”

“A coma was mentioned,” she hummed but he could feel and hear the under currents of concern shifting through her voice.

“Yeah. He was in some kind of unexplainable coma when I…. left,” he said carefully. If she noticed his hesitation, she did not seem to be inclined to mention it or point it out. “I’m pretty sure he is awake now. I just don’t know if he came back with me.”

“He won’t abandon you.”

Oh, she sounded so sure.

“Perhaps,” he choked out instead.

“I will not either,” she nudged him, his good shoulder, from the back. He caught a glimpse of a ready and determined smile. “Would you like a partner?”

He chuckled, his chest softening as the conversation turned a little gentler. He quite enjoyed and appreciated the change of pace. “I think Waxer might get offended,” he pointed out. It was a joke, because of course it was. He didn’t know how Waxer felt, not exactly. But he did seem rather inclined to stay by Luke’s side and that was also something he could appreciate. He had plenty of experience with other clones, but it had always been so short, save for Boil’s time with them in the future…past? Luke’s past. But Boil hadn’t been allowed to stay. Luke had been rather upset with Ben for quite some time after that.

She laughed, completely unbothered and unoffended by the notion. “We can make a squad. How does that sound?” she asked, tightening the bandages a little. It was uncomfortable but he knew the pressure would be better in the end.

He grinned, trying to turn his head towards her. “Save Galaxy and Destroy Sith Squad.”

If anyone could help him destroy the Sith, he couldn’t be surprised if she ended up being one of them. Of course, there were others he would like on that squad too.

“SGaDSS,” she snickered as she finished up and came back to his front to tie it off. It was some kind of silent and mutual agreement and they high fived. Both of their hands were sweaty, from the heat and warmth of the planet but his heart was soaring that it hardly mattered. She was a jedi and he got to meet her. He got to meet another of Ben’s friends, loved ones. “You talk kind of like him,” she said after they stopped laughing and sat down, settling against the wall. She had brought over some pillows and blankets from closet in the corner so they could lean against them instead of just the hard floor and wall.

“Who? Anakin?”

“No,” she chuckled, waving her hand. “Obi-Wan. He could be so sarcastic, so quippy. He could verbally keep up with anyone. The way he jokes with and about his troopers. The way he follows those he cares about into the fires of Hell,” she glanced away and shook her head, once again almost lost in thoughts and memories. “Just… part of the reason he is a good person to be around, to be friends with.”

He and Ben had talked a lot about love and compassion and kindness. The different types and the roles they could play in life. But love was still love, in any form. No one was higher or more important than another. It was a lesson that Luke had found solace in. “He always told me that loving someone was enough. Time and distance don’t exist when it comes to love.”

“Apparently he is very wise in the future,” Siri hummed and suddenly he was leaning against her. He was tired, because of course he was, but this was easier, just leaning on her and almost ready to fall asleep or something. He had been tired a lot lately. He wondered if it was because of the time travel. At least he hadn’t been in a coma, like Ben.

“He doesn’t…” Luke drifted off, trying to find the words but his mind was starting to get heavy. “Always make sense but he tries.”

“That’s Obi-Wan for ya,” Siri chuckled and scooted a little closer to him, possibly to make things more comfortable for either of them, or both.

“This will be the longest I have been around a jedi that wasn’t Ben,” Luke muttered.

“It hasn’t even been a day.”

Well, considering he had only met one jedi before and that was for a very short time, it wasn’t exactly hard to compete. “I have met one other jedi and it was barely for an hour,” Luke replied with a huff. “I was in a galaxy so dark, so few jedi. But here, in this time, here I have been around Skywalker, Ahsoka, Master Tiin, Master Vos… I…”

“Quinlan was there?” Siri asked, suddenly interrupting and a bit surprised.

“He came to help Ben, I’m pretty sure,” Luke replied, his heart catching pace and moving a little quicker than normal. He liked Master Vos; he was very interesting and was the only other real jedi he had met in his own past. And Ben seemed to really care about and love him too. But if he was a danger to Ben… Why? Is that…bad?”

“No, not at all,” she shook her head, blonde hair swaying a bit. “They just haven’t hung around each other for a while.”

“They’re friends.”

“Yes. Very much so,” she paused and studied him, glancing down at her shoulder where he was resting near her. “You should take a nap.”

“What? Why?” he snorted but even he knew it was obvious. He was tired.

“You heal when you sleep,” she replied bluntly and then paused before continuing, like she needed to have some sort of explanation and clarification. “We have a medic friend.”

“Bant,” he hummed. Another person Ben knew and loved and talked about. He wondered if she was still alive; he didn’t remember when she died. If she was still around; he would like to meet her. They could probably exchange notes on their caring regiments for Ben.

“Yes.”

“She’s right,” a new yet soft and familiar voice creeps into Luke’s ability to hear. Both of them glance up in the door way where Waxer was standing, partially void of armor with his arms crossed against his chest, frowning disappointedly. He shook his head and was very clear about expressing how he felt. “And I’m not happy you didn’t say something about being hurt.” He barely gave them a moment before he walked over and asked for permission to sit next to them. Luke practically took his arm and dragged the trooper down to their level. He was so warm, and kind and his presence just curled around his. Even though there were only half a dozen troopers, it was an overwhelming sense of good feelings and warmth that Luke wasn’t used to.

Luke didn’t talk much, his brain becoming heavy and tired as the moments passed on until he was barely conscious. At some point, another trooper came in, but Luke’s eyes had already been closed as his mind started to move towards sleep mode. There was talking and footsteps. Luke tried to reach out into the force, towards that warm something that had entered, and he heard a door shut. A few chuckles.

By that time, he is sound asleep and knows nothing.

Fives

The second part of the explosion was what woke them as it was very audible and even shook the ground what they were laid upon. It shook them awake for certain, even before one of the former slaves – the woman that made them a meal before – ran in started spouting hurried exclamations in a language that Fives didn’t actually understand.

The younger jedi, Luke, was practically draped across any trooper he could get close to, as well as the other, older jedi, practically clinging to them. He was embarrassed when he awoke, tucked near Lieutenant Waxer but no one said a word. Only silently untangled themselves from the boy and got up as the woman continued to babble.

They were on their feet within moments, although Jesse’s legs were tangled in the scratchy blankets, and he fell over himself. Tup couldn’t help but chuckle as he and Checkerboard, from the 212th, helped untangle him and get him up.

“What’s happened?” Captain Rex asked.

The woman continued to speak but the Captain just glanced around helplessly. He, like the rest of them, didn’t know the language that she was speaking and apparently, she didn’t have a translator either; hand held or implant.

General – Master – Something Tachi stared at the woman intently and nodded. “She said that something has exploded; she is fairly certain that it was the palace.”

“Did you explode the structure?” Checkerboard choked out.

Master Tachi just scoffed. “No. The devices that Luke and I planted were of the smoke variety and they have long gone off. There is not a way that ours could have brought even part of that building down,” she insisted.

“Do you think it was the Republic?” Jesse asked, catching his breath after his battle with the blankets and pillows.

The jedi frowned but thought about this for a moment. “I doubt it. It isn’t generally the jedi way to just explode entire government buildings, even if they are the headquarters to a slaver queen,” she paused and said a few things to the woman. After an exchange, the woman left, although Fives wasn’t entirely sure what was said. “Get ready and get dressed. We have to figure out what is going on and how to get out of here. Or, at the very least, contact someone.”

Everyone nodded, readily. She had nothing to get ready about herself and said a few things to Luke, quiet and under her breath. He started to grab his robes and armor pieces and started to put them together as she strode out of the room.

Lieutenant Waxer glanced at the boy, curious with a silent question. “She’s going to try to see if she can get contact,” Luke replied as he worked with surprising efficiency. He did stumble over some pieces of the armor, not quite used to such things, but the 212th Checkerboard, quickly moved to help him.

After a few minutes, they were all ready to move and they excited the room towards the door in the front of the building. Master – General – ugh something (Fives had no idea what to call her) Tachi was messing with some radio, working intently. He didn’t dare to ask if she was having any progress with it.

Luke stopped at the door, keeping it closed, and reached out, with his eyes shut and taking a deep breath. After a long moment, something sparked, and the boy started to bounce on his feet. “He’s here!” he cheered, chattering excitedly as he continued to repeat the phrase.

“What are you talking about?”

The boy’s eyes were shining so bright, Fives almost felt like he was blinding but he bounced around the room, nearly flying outside of the door before holding himself back and spinning around towards them again. “He is here! I can feel him! Ben! Ben is here!”

“General…Kenobi…” Lieutenant Waxer tried slowly.

Luke nodded, vigorously. “Master Tachi! Siri! Ben…Obi-Wan is here!” he called out. The jedi glanced at him with a blink.

“I’ve got some lines,” General Tachi said, instead although she smiled faintly at him. “There are reports of slavers getting injured and stealing slaves. Someone with a light saber.”

Luke paused and frowned. “But I have his saber.”

“I’m sure he borrowed someone else’s,” General Tachi assured as she stepped closer to him. “You did say Quinlan was with him and well, Quinlan works just fine with a blaster too. So, I’m sure you are right, and it is Kenobi.”

He nodded. “We have to go.”

“Luke…”

“No! We have to get back to him!” Luke insisted as he started to move again. “We have to get to him as soon as possible. There is so much to do, and danger and I have to help him!”

“Iyah said it is chaos out there, we need to be careful,” General Tachi tried to reason carefully.

“I can’t wait,” Luke shook his head and before any of them knew it, he was out the door.

General Tachi cursed in a language Fives didn’t know but both the 212th boys had raced after Luke without a moment’s notice. The general groaned. “I have to get my equipment and pack it up. Can you…”

“We’ve got it sir,” Captain Rex nodded, curtly and glanced at the others left. “Let’s move boys. Cover the padawan commander’s back. Jesse, stay here with the general…”

“Not a general!” the jedi called back.

“Give her any help and protection that she needs,” the captain finished. Fives clasped his hand with his brother before Jesse tailed after General Tachi and the other ran off after the runaway jedi padawan youngling person.

It was chaos in the streets. So many were fighting. There were pieces of debris that had fallen even as far as they had gotten and some, slower, still falling yet. Ash and dust billowed everywhere, obscuring the skies. Luke and the 212thboys were already a bit far ahead, but they were rather easily noticeable to the eye in the off white and battered armor of the troops.

“He’s just as bad as Skywalker,” the captain muttered under his breath and ran full speed through the crowds in attempt to catch up.

Fives just grinned at Tup and pulled on his helmet before following.

Oh but those were the best kind.

*

Fives didn’t know when it happened but eventually droids started showing up. Getting through towards the palace is more difficult than expected and eventually, they even get a chance to catch their breath when they run into alley ways and abandoned houses and structures. Everyone seems to be fighting everyone, from droids fighting slavers to slavers fighting slaves to slaves fighting droids and slavers. It is a whole mess, and it is easy to get off track.

Which they do.

They end up out of the way of the palace which made Luke very frustrated. They could all feel it. Perhaps it was a jedi thing, Fives thought. He trusted Skywalker with a lot; he was a good man. There were times, however, Fives felt as though he could feel his emotions in any given situation. Well, he shouldn’t say that. In any high stakes or near-death situations. Or anything that involved Senator Amidala.

Luke’s frustrations are practically palpable, and it nearly makes Fives feel that way too. He is fairly certain it must be a jedi thing because no way is he normally feeling like this, even with the situation that they are embroiled in. He’s panicked and scared and desperate.

It is a lot more chaotic than even Umbara and often times, the group keeps losing one another for moments or even near hour at a time. There is no battlefield, no ground to take. There are no real sides. It is just unbridled and intense chaos.

Rumors begin to swirl around about lightsabers and the jedi. Some slaves from the palace running with panic, screaming about several men in light sabers fighting one another and the death of the queen. Fives didn’t think Luke could get anymore worried and desperate.

He was very wrong.

Fives wouldn’t blame Luke for what was to come next.

Brothers died in battle no matter where they were. It was a fact of their lives, and he knew that the jedi did their best. They just couldn’t save everyone and even then, sometimes they could – and did – lose their own lives in the process. This was a battlefield of a different breed, Fives thought. He almost thought they would survive this.

He should have known better.

Fives didn’t really know Check but that didn’t mean his death didn’t hurt.

And he knew it had hit Luke pretty hard too.

The moment he saw the trooper go down; they both knew it was over. There was no way the soldier could have survived that shot. But even though Luke had fought in the battle on Umbara with Lieutenant Waxer’s platoon, a group of soldiers that included Check, his reaction was not something any soldier should have advised.

He stopped and stared, frozen in place. Shocked and unmoving, as if unable to comprehend anything going on around him in the world. Captain Rex shouted something, possibly for Luke to get a hold of himself, possibly for one of them to get him out of the line of fire. Fives, of course, couldn’t do anything about the former as of yet, but he could do the latter. Running across the field from his cover, Fives literally tackled Luke down to the ground and behind a stack of crates near a door. Without a word or anything, he practically dragged the boy into the house.

They were lucky, no one was home.

Leaning Luke upright against the wall in a sitting position, Fives closed the door to give them a few minutes and gave the rest of them a short brief on the comms. As of currently, Luke was in no shape to keep moving. He asked for the jedi, perhaps she could help him, but General Tachi was a bit off with Lieutenant Waxer and Jesse. It would be quite a few moments before she could get to them. She simply ordered for them to find cover and stay put. They needed the break, possibly a nap, and for Luke to come back to them before anyone could make another run for the palace. It always seemed so far off; it would still take quite some time.

“Luke,” Fives tried with a frown, pressing a hand against the boy’s shoulder on his pauldron. Tears were starting to come from the boy’s blue eyes, steadily and finally, the first emotion finally came up. It wasn’t much but it was something. “Look, I know this is tough. Losing someone you care about, no matter how long you have known them, it’s…it’s heart breaking. And in war, where people die it’s even worse because you don’t…you don’t have a moment to stop and grieve. You don’t have a moment for burial or saying goodbye. It’s something you try to prepare for but… you can’t.”

He was in front of him before sitting down himself next to the jedi-in-training, or whatever he was, and sighed, taking off his helmet and setting it aside.

“I’m not trying to scold you or anything, but this is war, and we are going to lose people,” Fives tried, unsteadily. “And we don’t… it often happens so fast. There is no time for goodbyes and even less time for grief, in the moment. I lost…I lost my brother really fast. He did something…. something that I would have been the one to do and it just…one moment he was right by me and the next he was gone. Explosion and we had to move, there wasn’t a second to spare.”

Luke’s face started to scrunch up and Fives counted that as a win, although his feelings were mostly tied up in the memories. The boy blinked and stared at him, like he wasn’t completely sure. “Echo?”

Fives stared right back at him, his head whipping around, eyes wide. Because…he hadn’t said his name. “How did you…”

An explosion went off and the glass of the window above them shattered, spraying the contents and other debris into the house and over them. Luke threw himself over Fives in an effort to protect him from the flying debris which Fives, absentmindedly thought was a little amusing and ironic.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” Fives muttered without his permission. The door busted through and both of them startled, soon to be relieved as it was only Tup and Captain Rex that came through.

“You guys good?”

“Yessir,” Fives grumbled as he got out from underneath Luke. The boy responded but Fives’ ears were ringing and he couldn’t quite make out what he had said.

“General Tachi wants us to wait for her, get some rest and so we can regroup,” Tup relayed.

“I heard,” Fives sighed and glanced around. “The place looks pretty abandoned, at least for now.”

“Most people who aren’t fighting are hiding in their homes,” the captain responded, also taking a look around. He gestured to Tup, who went to make sure and secure the perimeter. “So, my guess is that they are still out there fighting or dead. General Tachi shouldn’t be too long, but she also said we don’t have to wait up for her. Take a nap she said.”

Fives scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I guess I’ll find some blankets and pillows and a good large room to hole up in.”

It wasn’t that hard. The place wasn’t very big and eventually he found a living room space where the hard furniture could be moved to the walls, reinforce them and barricade any windows and doors. Unless someone came in with a full tactical team, it should hold out for at least a few hours. By the time General Tachi got to the house, flanked by Lieutenant Waxer and Jesse, Luke was half asleep but tried his best went they came in.

The Lieutenant was holding Check’s helmet and Luke burst into tears again.

They left the two of them alone for a moment. Well, it was a bit longer than a moment. Fives explained a bit on what happened with Check and Luke’s reaction. Luke may have been used to running and fighting and even conflict, but he wasn’t not used to the realities of war. Not like this.

They came back in after quite some time. Luke was already lightly snoring and fast asleep against Waxer’s shoulder, who was half asleep himself. And so, they made a perimeter around one another for moments of rest over the next several hours.

It is barely an hour in and already Luke is tangled up and cuddling with several troopers, as if reaching out and trying to be in contact with as many of them as he could.

“If no one else is gonna say it,” Jesse started, keeping his voice rather quiet as to not awake the young’un. “I ain’t gonna lie, is it strange that he is all…touchy and cuddly? I didn’t think jedi were…really like that.”

Everyone looked over at General Tachi, who frowned and took a breath, her lips twitching. “He is…touch started but not quite either. It is difficult to explain because jedi are very different. But one of the reasons the jedi start so young, adopted young and raised together is so they can form bonds with others like them. It is often necessary for healthy development.”

“But Luke…he wasn’t raised like that,” Waxer realized, glancing down at the child before looking back up at General Tachi. He looked quite worried and concerned. After only a few days of knowing this child, he was already so attached. Fives wondered if that was normal for him. “So he doesn’t have those bonds.”

“Luke’s presence is latching onto other jedi and connected beings,” General Tachi continued. “He has several fledgling bonds which help his… starvation but considering Obi-Wan and him were constantly on the run, Luke probably didn’t get much time with them and so they either faded or remained very thin; barely there. He’s already formed some type of connections with you.”

“All of us?”

“Luke’s presence in the force is starving for connections,” she added, and Fives could tell there was a hint of concern in her voice, although she mostly kept emotions out of it. “It won’t interfere with you or anything and if left unattended, it shouldn’t grow.”

“It helps him?” Waxer asked.

General Tachi nodded, a bit gravely. This was a rather serious topic, Fives realized. “It is partially why he is even more cuddly than normal, even for a jedi.”

Waxer held Luke close, as if that would help. The boy just huffed into his shoulder. “And…if the bond…if it does grow stronger? Is that okay?” he added, looking back up at General Tachi, eyebrows scrunched together as his concern became more and more evident on his physical features.

General Tachi just nodded.

“Even from a clone?”

“Especially from a clone.”

“What does that mean?”

“Obi-Wan could explain it better,” she confessed with a small sigh. Luke’s arm sleepily touched hers and she moved a little closer to him. “I don’t have a clone attachment or much experience with you.”

“Can you try?”

“I’m not sure if anyone, you or anyone really understands how well the clones and the jedi connect with one another, fit together, how easy it is to share bonds with,” she started, making sure to look between all of them. “Your warmth and light in the Force…as Obi-Wan tells it, although different individuals, is clicks very well with our own. This is rather quite unusual for non-force sensitives. Obi-Wan told me once it’s like we were made for you, that we were meant to be together in some way.”

“They used to say on Kamino,” Rex said quietly. He hadn’t been speaking a whole lot as of late, listening quiet and with purpose and the mention of Kamino brought both nostalgia and bitterness to all of the troopers. Their brothers were still there but it was not generally a good place to be. “We were made for the jedi.”

General Tachi thought about this and hummed. Perhaps it was agreement or disagreement or neither, Fives wasn’t sure. She was hard to read and hard to understand, much more so than their own general. “Perhaps. But I don’t think it is one sided,” she swiped Luke’s bangs to the side, gently. He exhaled again. “Many of the jedi will continue to choose you. Obi-Wan continues to choose you. It is a new galaxy and things are changing. If you will have us, we will gladly stay with you.”

“I don’t know anyone except the jedi who have cared anything for us,” Lieutenant Waxer confessed. “And I can’t speak for everyone of course, but I think we would rather be with you than any other people in the galaxy, if we had to choose.”

“You should get some sleep,” General Tachi said instead, glancing over towards the window that Fives and Tup had already blocked.

“We should set up watches for the next few hours,” Rex replied, leaving the previous conversation with ease and picking up the new one just as easily.

“Do not worry. I have it covered.”

“You can’t do it by yourself.”

“Oh yes I can. Just….trust me on this one,” she winked.

Luke

When Luke wakes up, he is drowning in a clone cuddle pile and practically has to claw his way out, his face completely red and flush with embarrassment. He is sputtering by the end of it but tries with all of his skill and work not to wake them up while trying to get himself out of the pile.

Master Tachi glanced at him from the side of the pile, out of the sleeping troopers and smirked at him, amused. “Sleep well?” she snickered.

Luke just blushed and glanced away, moving towards her as quietly and gently as he could.

“It is nothing to be ashamed of, Luke. You are an empath and crave connections naturally,” she pointed out. It wasn’t something that Luke didn’t know, in particular, but it was different here and now. Things were still dark but still so much lighter than the time he was from. There were others to connect to so close and actually around. It was so much. “It just seems so extreme now because you have never had so much before and now, there is much to have.”

“It…it’s been just Ben and me for a long time,” Luke confessed as he sat down next to her, hugging his knees. He glanced over at his armor piled over in the corner and reached for the closest pieces. “Before that it was just Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru but I don’t think they quite…understood.”

“Many do not,” she hummed.

“I love Ben,” he added, quickly. It was the truth; Ben was the only person he had with him, everyone else was gone forever or deceased. “He…he is pretty much all I have. It is hard without him around. I…I just have never been around so much….”

“Light, warmth?” she suggested.

“Hyperspace is cold, and we are not planet side a lot,” he explained. He tried to talk about a bit on their situation, in the future, past, whatever. It was easy to talk to her. Maybe it was because she was a jedi. Perhaps it was because Ben knew her and told him about her. Maybe she just was easy to talk to for him. “Ben is very warm, but this is different.”

“Everyone feels different, especially jedi,” Master Tachi assured. “You have been starved of that. It is why we raise out children in creches, together.”

“Ben told me about creches,” Luke hugged his knees tighter as he clipped the shin guards to his lower legs. He didn’t look at her, rather thinking about so much all at once. “I think I would have liked it.”

She nodded and the outer wall shook a little. They both glanced towards the little window on that side of the room. The conversation was over, Luke thought to himself. It wasn’t long; he wished he could talk more with her, but it was clear. “The fighting is getting close again,” she pointed out with a frown. “We should move.”

Luke nodded. “Any ideas on where to go?”

“I have been working on establishing communications with Obi-Wan’s ship,” Master Tachi explained as she grabbed some of her own gear and began putting it on. Her radio was in the corner, and she glanced at it as some kind of gesture to guide his gaze towards the appliance. “They are being pretty tight lipped, and I don’t have his codes.”

“Probably don’t want Dooku to get any information,” Luke added. Whether or not this was the truth, it made sense anyways. He wondered where the Count was now and if he was making problems for Ben and the troopers. “Do you think they have troops on the ground?”

Master Tachi paused and frowned again. “Not sure. This place isn’t Republic friendly or even wants to be,” she replied as she stood up, finishing putting on her own gear, so different from what Luke and the other troopers were wearing. “The Jedi have taken out the Zygerrian slave empire before but…everything was different then.”

He didn’t know exactly what that meant, in particular but he followed her, putting on his smaller pieces and Master Tachi helping him clip on the gorget. “If they take out the enemy ship, I think they can drive the Separatists away,” Luke said. “I only saw one up there, I don’t think they were planning for an invasion.”

“I think you are right.”

“I have no doubt the palace is in chaos, but I don’t think there is any order for power players. No one seems organized. We might be able to get there. That is probably where Ben would look since he was following Dooku.”

“That level of chaos could mean lack of leadership,” Siri murmured as she messed around a bit with her portable radio. “The queen may be incapacitated or dead, meaning there would be a power vacuum.”

“That would also mean less guards, we could probably slip through. No one is giving orders,” he added.

“Or too many are for any type or organization.”

“Even if Ben is done looking through the palace, he would still be around that area,” Luke said.

“He is not going to just give up,” Master Tachi nodded. “Especially not with Quinlan with him.”

“So, we head towards the palace then.”

“The closer we are, the easier it will be to get communications with the Republic – or better yet – Obi-Wan’s fleet,” Master Tachi added with a grin growing on her face.

“The closer we are, the more likely I will be able to feel Ben better,” Luke added with a matching grin as he brightened up, significantly. He just needed to find Ben. Things would be okay if he could just get to him. “Don’t try to lie to me and say you don’t have a pretty strong bond with him too.”

“He is one of my closest friends,” she admitted.

“Look at you two,” a new voice piped in with a chuckle. Both Luke and Master Tachi glanced around. The troopers were all at least awake with vaguely amused expressions. A few were even moving towards their armor piles to get ready for moving out at a moment’s notice. “Makin plans without us,” Jesse added.

“Thought you could use the extra beauty sleep,” Luke grinned, cheekily.

“You little brat,” Jesse teased.

They talk a little while everyone gets ready and dressed. Master Tachi gave them a short rundown of what they were going to be doing; moving back towards the Palace. There was some apprehension, going back to that horrid place. Luke completely understood, even just thinking about made him rather upset, skin vibrating for the need for justice. If it was his choice, no one would have to go anywhere near it again. But he had to find Ben. They had to find Ben and they needed to get off of this planet.

The little group had left soon after, quiet and out of the back door, away from the chaos outside. The fighting and struggling had not ceased exactly, as there were still slavers, slaves and droids still fighting amongst one another. Luke kept Check’s helmet clipped to his belt and no one said a word about it.

They couldn’t exactly avoid the fighting and conflict and eventually, they had to move towards the more main roads to make their way towards the palace. They avoided them, of course, whenever they could. By the time they had to get to the main road, which was a straight shot to the palace, they were about knee deep in conflict.

It kind of amazed him how easy they worked together. Master Tachi had never really worked with these troopers before barely – if any – either. Luke himself had only fought alongside Waxer and only for a few moments, the other troopers as well. But the five boys they had with him and Master Tachi, they had quickly adapted to the way they moved and the way they worked. Moving with the troopers was easy, even though there weren’t many of them. They didn’t a fairly good job keeping up with him and Master Tachi and although neither of them were actually used to working with troopers, they seemed to blend well together when it came to helping each other out and having each other’s back.

Master Tachi had a blaster on her, and he knew she wouldn’t bring out her lightsaber unless it was absolutely necessary. Ben had been the same way during their travels. It often times brought unwanted attention.

Luke, on the other hand, didn’t have another weapon and he had a much larger and passionate need to fight and protect. He made arcs with Ben’s light saber like he was born for it. Perhaps, in some ways, he was.

The loss of Check was a heavy weight, but they kept moving.

The young boy from the future wouldn’t let anyone die on his account, not with this. There were six others with him – he could keep them alive. He had to keep them alive. He did not leave them and kept them within his sights the best he possibly could. It was hard to keep them together as they seemed to have the same idea about one another. Luke caught a blaster shot with the force that came too close to Jesse’s face for comfort. Tup shot a slaver that was coming up on Luke’s six.

Getting so close to the palace, they stayed tight knit until the courtyard was in place. They paused in an out-of-the-way alley to come up with a plan, right outside of the palace perimeter. “It is absolute and complete chaos out there but I can feel Ben,” Luke said hurriedly, his voice rising in excitement and plenty of eagerness. “I can sneak in and since I can sense him, I’ll be able to find him quicker. I’ll bring him back.”

“I don’t think that’s a good…”

“Look, I got this, okay?” Luke insisted and didn’t wait for an answer. He ran out of the hiding place and leapt on top of the building nearby, racing across the rooftops up and away from the fighting crowds down below. Eventually he had to get back to the ground as he got inside the palace courtyard where the battle started to thin out a little.

He reached out in the Force and tried to concentrate. He could feel Ben. He knew he could feel him.

And then…

“Luke!”

The yell was raw, screeching into the stormy chaos of the battle, as if his voice alone was desperate enough to demand the person of his desire to be returned.

“Luke!” it tried again, near at the top of his lungs.

“Ben?”

Luke couldn’t help but perk at the sound of his name. Oh, how he hoped that it was real, that it was his voice and not his wishful thinking or the screams of another being. The being that he so desperately wanted it to be.

“Luke?” the voice called out tentatively.

It was real! It was Ben’s voice!

The youngster jumped back into the fray of disorder and conflict without a second thought. “Ben!” Luke shouted back as he fought harder against the chaos, clawing his way through anyone and everyone. His saber was off now, clipped to his belt. Because now, he didn’t need it. He fought through the crowd with his hands and the undeniable power of the force, forcing his way through them with enough strength to make others even jump out of the way.

Then he saw him. Because even though it had been fifteen years and Ben’s appearance was so different; not that weathered and oh so greying older man that Luke knew; he could recognize him. It didn’t matter that his hair was a brownish ginger instead of the grey and white. It didn’t matter that his skin was younger and smoother instead of washed out and wrinkled. It didn’t matter that he was in armor pieces and under robes rather than the larger cloaks and well-used clothes. It didn’t even matter that his eyes were bluer now, had more color instead of the tired and older gaze Luke knew.

None of that mattered. Luke would know him anywhere, no matter how much of his physical appearance may have changed. He would never forget. He never could.

Tears were pricking at his eyes then, but they weren’t quite clouding his vision. He choked out the name before charging towards his guardian. Ben may not have known what Luke was going to do but he quickly figured it out. Luke ran and leapt at him with no small amount of abandon, with all the excitement and relief coursing through him and all of the desperation and fear washing away, out from his bones.

He was pretty sure that he was crying, and it did not matter. In that moment, nothing mattered but him. Because Luke was no longer alone. Whether or not everything was real, whatever Ben knew or did not know, it hardly mattered. Luke was no longer alone and all he wanted was to be wrapped up in Ben’s robe in the way he did when he was younger. He wanted to tell Ben of all the things that he had been through and all the things they could do now. Now that they had this chance. This chance to change everything and save so many.

“I know you can catch me, old man! You don’t have any grey hairs!”

And he does; Ben catches him and wraps his arms around Luke so tight, he doesn’t think the older man will ever let go. He doesn’t really want him to. Because in this moment, he doesn’t have to worry about anything. Ben is here. It doesn’t matter if he remembered Luke or not. It doesn’t matter what Ben knew or what he didn’t. He held Luke like he always held Luke, with strength and love and compassion. Like Luke had nothing in the world to worry about ever.

“You remember me.”

He didn’t know if he was right or not. Rather, it was a guess, but Ben just chuckled and curled his arms around Luke, secure and tight. “I could never forget,” he whispered, and Luke held on even snugger, wrapping his limbs around his guardian and locking his face in the crook of his neck, brown ginger hair tickling his face. “Foolish child, running off into war,” Ben mumbled with a fond huff.

“I had to try and save Waxer,” Luke said, exhaling the best he could. He felt out of breath and like he may never get it back. “I’m not sorry.” He wasn’t, he couldn’t quite be. He just wanted to help them in any way he could. He couldn’t save Checkerboard and that was going to haunt him, but he tried to make sure he remembered about all the other ones that he had helped. He had kept Waxer alive. He helped stop Krell’s massacre. He had tried and tried and tried.

“I’m not upset,” Ben assured quietly. Distantly, Luke could hear a small explosion go off. He was glad that he had found his guardian in a spot where there wasn’t blatant battle going on. “You just scared me near to death. I’m an old man, Beacon, my heart can’t take such things.”

“You’re over 15 years in the past you dummy,” Luke choked on near tears, but his chest was bubbling with laughter, something of relief and amusement. “You aren’t even old,” he paused and snuggled just a bit closer, so thankful and unable to let him go at the moment. He would, soon, of course. There was a lot of work to do but he would keep the minute. “I’m so glad you are okay.”

“I will never abandon you.”

Something in his chest loosened which helped him loosen his grip, even if only a little bit. That reminded him, Luke thought as he gave out an actual audible chuckle. “I have the very best present for you,” he murmured with a smile, amusement swelling.

“Oh? How fortuitous,” Ben rumbled, just as entertained as him. Luke didn’t know if anyone was watching or around, but it didn’t matter. Not to him. All there needed to be was Ben and him. Even if only for a minute. “As it so happens, I have a gift for you as well.”

“You got me a present?!” Luke cheered, surprised and excited as he perked up and leaned back to look at him. Luke could see the smirk that was forming underneath Ben’s mustache and beard, a twinkle so apparent in his eye. “What is it?” he asked.

“You will have to wait until we get back to the ship,” Ben chuckled as he let Luke down back to the ground.

“I bet my gift is better!” Luke boasted, his smile sly and knowing as he leaned back on his heels with the slyest grin he could muster. He didn’t think there was anything that could be better than bringing Ben back a loved one and he knew it.

“Oh?” he asked, raising an eyebrow in that way Luke had seen so many times before. “I don’t know…” he drifted off with the shake of his head. He sounded very sure of himself. “My gift is pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.”

Luke’s eyes sparkled and he took Ben’s hand, firm and secure. He was just getting more and more excited. He couldn’t wait to see Ben’s face when he showed him the person that Luke had come across because oh! He had brought back someone Ben cared about; someone he hadn’t seen in over a decade and half. “Come on! I left her with the troopers.”

“Her?” Ben echoed, questioningly, but Luke wrapped his hand tighter and practically dragged him across the courtyard, through some of the sides of the conflict before he brought him back to the little structure that his team was hiding in. He got down the alley and called out to the troopers. Waxer was the first to turn, the others following close behind as they realized who was coming up to them and putting their weapons down.

Waxer tore of his helmet and all Luke could see and feel was near absolute relief. “General!”

“Master!” Luke called out as Ben finally stopped, unable to move forward.

Because he saw.

Ben was staring, Luke noticed. His glanced between the two of them, uncertain about what would happen next, but he couldn’t help but feel excitement nearly overcome him. The female master grinned at the sight of them and walked, firm and with purpose, her face scraped up and dirty from fighting and finding rest in the little, out of the way places they could. As she came up to him, Ben reached up, hesitant and rubbed some of the light layer of dirt from her cheek.

“May I?” he murmured under his breath.

Luke’s own caught.

“Of course.” Even though she was expecting it, Luke could tell she was surprised by Ben’s hug and how tightly he wound around her. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Kenobi?” she hummed as she relaxed a little into the embrace.

“You have no idea.”

“I do. At least a little. Luke told me.”

“Tachi!” a new voice cheered, and Luke glanced around. It was Master Vos, and he was jogging towards them with a couple others, a mix of troopers and jedi. Well, one jedi. He hadn’t even realized that there had been troopers and the jedi master around when he found Ben, much less of them following the two of them. “I knew it had to be you,” he snickered, turning to lean against the wall, as if he needed a brace to prevent himself from falling over with his laughter.

“Vos,” Master Tachi replied in a mock flat tone but even Luke could feel and see that she wasn’t nearly as unimpressed as she made herself out to sound. “At the very least, you kept Obi-Wan alive.”

“Hey! You weren’t there when I was trying to convince him this was time travel and not a Sith trick or torture,” Master Vos shot back, grinning wide. Neither of them was actually upset or mad or anything negative really at one another, but it was rather amusing to watch them all interact. It was funny; Luke had a bit of a hard time seeing them as such close friends with Ben.

“Well, you seemed to do that at the least,” Master Tachi huffed with a smile as the two of them leaned back and she crossed her arms over her chest for some kind of effect.

“Is everyone here?”

“We lost Checkerboard in the fight,” Waxer stepped up for a short report as Luke glanced away, his chest heating up in grief and shame. Ben put a hand on his shoulder, warm and soothing. “The other troops that were taken are accounted for.”

“Commander Cody went back up to the ship to help Sergeant Barlex fight off the Separatist ship and it appears they are doing well,” Master Vos explained, pointing upwards into the sky where they could just make out two ships, mildly obscured by the clouds and atmosphere. There may have been others, but they couldn’t be seen from the ground. Luke didn’t know.

“The Zygerrians are winning the fight with the droids too,” Rex mumbled as he looked between the jedi masters. “But they are an absolute mess. There is no organization; just fighting for fighting’s sake.”

“We have a lot of work to do,” Luke added in, firm and determined. He wasn’t wrong. Beyond this, with their chance, there was so much to do if they were going to save the troopers, the jedi and the galaxy. “We should convene with the Jedi Council, create a plan and get to work on saving the galaxy from the Empire and the Sith.”

Ben chuckled, lightly as he shot Luke a glance, a single eyebrow raised a bit curiously but Luke could feel his shields tightening a little more. “Oh, should we?”

“We do need the help,” Luke pointed out, red with embarrassment as he looked away as he realized what he said and how he said it. “R-Right.”

The jedi master just kept snickering. “Yes,” he glanced back at the others and got a look at the other jedi behind him. Luke hadn’t even noticed him come up and his breath caught in his chest. Ben perked and looked back at Luke, looking so genuinely kind and nice. Luke’s heart fell a bit. “Luke, I’ve heard you met your…”

“Anakin Skywalker,” Luke interrupted, rather loudly, in a rare show of disrespect. He tried not to let much of anything slip past as he tightened his shields as best, he could, staring at his father with his jaw set. He had to figure out how to play this. Honestly, he had to figure out how to deal with this, especially now, in the time and situation that they both were in. Ben didn’t know that Luke knew. Knew who Anakin Skywalker, his father, became. “Yeah. We’ve met.”

Ben turned confused and it was so wounded and genuine that it near physically hurt Luke to see him respond like that. “Luke…you…know who he is,” Ben said, his response slow and measured, deliberate. Cautious.

Luke hated it. “I do,” he nodded, staring just barely at Anakin.

“I am rather, confused, Luke, why…”

“Could we talk about this, later? Perhaps in private?” Luke fidgeted, glancing down at his gloved hands, his voice quieting into something that others, unless standing right by them, wouldn’t be able to hear. Luke never thought he would have this change, to have to be in this type of scenario. Luke never thought that he would meet his father as Anakin Skywalker, not after knowing what Vader had done and how many times, he had chased them, nearly killing the both of them. He had to figure out how to deal with and what to do with the change and knowledge that he had.

Ben’s brows were drawn but he nodded, solemn. “Of course. Later,” he responded, still careful and curious and worried. “But we will talk about it. This is most unlike you.”

Luke sighed, inwardly in relief. This was not the time or the place or in the right company. He couldn’t talk about this with his father actually in the vicinity. He didn’t know how he would react and there was so much more to do. “I know,” he flipped the hilt of Ben’s saber towards its owner. “This is yours. I’m sorry I borrowed it without asking.”

“Keep it for now,” Ben replied, pushing the hilt back towards him. “I’m glad you did. My crystal is willing to work with you, as always. Hopefully, in this time, you will be able to create your own.”

Luke perked subtly.

They all caught it.

“I think it is about time that we got off of this…. planet,” Ben said, carefully, trying to keep the disgust out of his voice.

“Agreed,” came a chorus of voices in near unison.

“Commander Cody can get a ship down here within a few minutes,” Master Vos announced, already messing with his commlink. “But we have to get to a nearby landing platform.”

“Shouldn’t be toohard,” Luke replied. “We’ve got four jedi, a handful of highly competent troopers and a guy who is not half bad with a lightsaber.”

“That…is how you are describing yourself?” Ben said, an eyebrow raising curiously. Luke shrugged as the troopers made a quick perimeter around them, ready to move out whenever given the order. “You know, with where and when we are, the Jedi Order is still around,” he pointed out.

“I want to help you keep it that way.”

“I know,” Ben nodded, solemnly. “I am fairly certain I can convince the Council to let you in the Order, if, of course, we happen to stay here. You’d have some catching up to do but you have been trained quite a bit and I think you have enough training to be picked up as a padawan.”

Luke felt his entire body freeze. “Picked up?” he choked out.

Ben kept his gaze completely void of any telltale emotions or thoughts; his shields as tight as they could be. “Of course. You are very talented, Luke. Kind, compassionate, determined and so eager to learn. If this is still what you want.”

He just stared back at him because…because he inferred that he wouldn’t be Ben’s padawan. That just…he wanted to be Ben’s padawan. Luke remembered the vision and trial he went through in the Lothal Temple. This was…it was always supposed to be them.

He would just have to prove himself. “I still want it,” he stated, firmly.

Ben nodded.

“We should get going,” Master Tachi popped in, speaking slowly, glancing between them with a varying range of emotions screaming across her face. They agreed and without another turn of phrase, they ran off.

Getting to the landing pad was easy. There was Luke, four incredibly talented jedi and a handful of insanely amazing troopers that could practically carve a path without hardly breaking a sweat. And it was right in time. The gunship landed just at the moment they came into view. They jumped in and off they went up towards the flagship which was beating down at the lone Separatist ship it was battling.

Commander Cody was waiting for them, along with a few others, most of which Luke recognized. There was Kix and Helix and…

“Boil!” Luke grinned with all the happiness and eagerness and relief he could project into the name. The trooper always looked surprised when Luke said his name like that and sure, this Boil didn’t have the same experiences with and without Luke that the older one did but he was still Boil. It didn’t matter.

He smiled though, warmer than most would expect with his shoulders sagging just a bit. “Hey kid. Sportin’ the armor pretty good.”

“I’m sorry I took it, but I had to sneak onto a gunship,” Luke shrugged before practically bowling the trooper over, Waxer hot on his heels. He was laughing and clasped Boil’s shoulder in greeting as the latter tried to get a handle on the squid-like hug that Luke gave. “I had to keep Waxer alive.”

When he got back to the ground and stood back, Boil’s brows were furrowed, and he frowned in realization. He glanced at Waxer, and they exchanged looks. Luke wasn’t entirely sure what they meant.

“All of you are going to need a check up and scan,” Helix butted in, Kix right at his side. They looked almost like twins. Well, really only for the fact that they had the same displeased expression on their faces. Luke tried to hush down his laugh.

“I will hand them all over to your capable care,” Ben assured as he walked closer to the group. Master Vos was whispering to Master Tachi which ended in them both snickering, almost uncontrollably. “But I do have a gift for Luke, if you don’t mind waiting a moment to take him.”

Helix shrugged. “Fine.”

Ben glanced around at the other troopers. “Did Gearshift come with you?” he asked as he got closer to Luke and wrapped a thin cloth around his eyes, making sure he could see a thing. Luke just scoffed good naturedly.

“Gearshift!” someone called out.

There were footsteps from a human and…something else. A clacking noise. A lot of them actually. It stopped and there were a few other quiet noises. “Can I loooooook??” Luke’s voice came out in a near whine. A few chuckles erupted from those around him.

Ben was standing next to him as someone untied and took off the blindfold. And in front of Luke, in Ben’s hands, was the cutest little BD explorer type droid Luke thinks he had ever seen. Washed in grey and gold, it’s little head looked up at him and squeaked in a binary Luke wasn’t entirely sure he understood but the meaning was clear. Plenty of curiosity.

His heart practically stopped. Could it be? No way.

No way.

“Is this…” he drifted off, unable to form words. He glanced at Ben, eyes wide and near pleading. “Are you serious?”

“I happened to have found her on the ship that we hijacked on our way here,” Ben explained with one of the fondest smiles Luke had ever seen up on him. “I helped fix her up, Anakin helped fix her up and she needs a bit more tweaking and probably a program update, but I thought you might like her. We talked a bit and she claimed she will give you a chance. She’s had a bit of a difficult time and would like a memory wipe, but I think you two will get along.”

“You got me a droid?!”

“I’m not sure if I would say got. I didn’t exactly pay for her or anything. Rather…liberated, in a way,” Ben pointed out.

Luke reached out his hands to let the little droid hop into his palms. He nearly felt like crying. “She’s so cute,” he whispered as she beeped at him, quick and excited. “I…can’t understand what she is saying though. Not fully.”

“It’s coded binary. Don’t worry, that can be changed in the programming.”

“Can we keep both?”

“Yes? But why?”

“I’d like to learn it. I think it would be fun. What’s her name?”

“Her designation is BD-42, but she claims to be amendable for changes.”

Luke hummed and stared at his new little droid friend. This was just… a dream. There was no other explanation. “Hmmm. We will have to brainstorm, won’t we, girl? I’m sure we can come up with something fantastic that is very you.” He looked up at Ben and he knew his eyes were sparkling because, well, they had to be. “Thank you, Ben.”

“I did promise you a droid at some point.”

“I think…. I think we might be a good team,” Luke agreed. “And we have a lot to do with an uncertain amount of time to do it.”

[juminhanswife48]

Jumin X MC: Night spent alone

Jumin sat at the table alone, lazily sipping out of a glass of wine he had poured himself. His teeth clinked up against the glass, the wine slowly falling back into the bottom cup as he placed the glass cup down. With every sip it was a spicy, heavy toll that rolled down his throat.

He could feel that he was slowly losing her. His anxieties were beginning to pile up; he felt the same insecurities that he had felt in the beginning of the relationship. The constant fear of losing her, and not knowing wether she was in love with him or just enabling his behaviors.

He looked at the clock in the kitchen and read the time. 9:39 PM. She was 2 hours and 39 minutes late to eat dinner with him. No calls, no texts, no warning about coming home late. Nothing. He picked up his phone then swiped it open. He went straight to the messenger app, then saw who was active. Only Yoosung and Seven.

He knew they couldn’t help in the situation, they would probably just make him feel worse. He wanted to talk to V, but he hadn’t been active in a week. Probably on a trip.

He quickly dialed MC’s number, then put the phone to his ear. He stared down at the cup in front of him, his head was pounding as a result of the amount of wine he had drank. “Whe...Where are you, MC?” He slurred the second the phone ringing stopped.

“Hi honey I’m gonna be home soon I’m-”

“MC,” He swallowed his spit then rubbed his eyes. “Come home.”

He furrowed his brows then began to feel tears forming in his eyes. Jumin could hear loud music and girls joyfully screaming in the background of the call. “Are you drunk, Jumin?”

“Hurry home,” he slurred. “Please.”

“I’m sorry, I’m coming home now.”

“Call Driver...uh...Kim! Call him.”

He picked up the glass then chugged the rest of the wine that was in it. Every swallow felt like lava free flowing in his throat, and although it was painful and he did not enjoy it, he couldn’t get himself to stop.

“I’m gonna get a taxi, okay?”

On the other side of the phone call he heard heels clicking, then music slowly getting lower and lower.

“Jumin, stop drinking for now.”

He looked at his empty glass. “There’s no more left.”

“I love you, please be safe for another 30 minutes.”

“Uh-huh.” Jumin smiled to himself. His black hair messily hung over his forehead.

“Bye.” MC said.

Jumin took the phone out of his hand, then placed it on the table. He looked around the penthouse. What a privilege to live here with MC. He was so lonely before, just empty spaces and sound filled the house. MC came into his life and completely shifted it. He was so happy with her.

He drunkenly dragged his feet to the couch, then laid down and closed his eyes.

___________

MC opened the glass door to the penthouse, turning around and giving a shy smile to the security guards that greeted her.

“Have a good night!” She cheerfully waved.

“You too, Mrs. Han.”

MC turned back to the penthouse and was greeted by an oppressive dark cloud that leaked from inside the house. It wasn’t like the nights that she had come back to before; there was a different energy that radiated through the darkness. She pushed the door behind her, lightly allowing it to close itself. The small click echoed through the penthouse.

“Jumin?” She called out as she placed her bag on the floor. She dug through her bag and grabbed her phone, a message from the RFA messenger lit up the screen.

ZEN: Thanks for the drinks tonight!

Yoosung★: Yup~ I’ll pay you back one day^^

Jaehee Kang: Yes, thank you MC.

MC smiled then began to kick her heels off.

‘No problem guys,’ MC quickly typed. ‘We always have tons of fun together’

MC gently placed her shoes in the corner of the doorway then shoved her phone back in her bag. It wasn’t like Jumin, to not be there at the doorway hugging her tightly while kissing her forehead and asking her how her night out went.

“Jumin?” MC called out as she walked around the dark penthouse. The only light was coming from the windows, but even then being late at night, there was little light visible. “Honey?” MC called out. She checked in the bedroom, then the kitchen. She found nothing. “Jumin?” MC called out as she walked around the dark penthouse.

She finally reach the living room, there Jumin laid sprawled across the sofa, a soft moonlight appearing on his body. Bottles of wine surrounding him. His hair was a tangeled mess in his face.

“Oh my god,” MC said as she rushed towards him. He was

She put her hands on his chest, then moved them up to his cheeks. “Jumin, what happened?”

“Hey,” MC softly whispered as she poked Jumin’s arm. She croutched next to the couch, where he laid in a fetal position. He was still in his work clothes, the first two buttons of his shirt undone with his black slacks still on. He reeked of wine, which made MC feel guilty. He was a heavyweight drinker, so she felt especially guilty when she realized he gotten this wasted as a result of her.

“Jumin” MC poked his arm again. He let out a soft snore, then his eyes opened wide. His eyes were droopy and set staring into hers, while his body barely hoisted itself up without the support of the arm of the couch. A sigh of relief left his mouth when he realized that she had come back.

“Come on,” MC grabbed his hands. They were cold and clammy. “Let’s go to bed.”

Jumin looked up at her, then used her hands as support as he sat up on the couch.

“Come on,” MC grunted. “You gotta help me. You’re heavy.”

“Aha...sorry.” He smugly giggled.

She walked with him into their bedroom, tumbling over each other’s feet occasionally. She moved his arms off from her side, then gently sat him down on the bed. He was still in his suit from the day before, tie and all.

“Jumin, don’t you want to get into comfy clothes?”

He looked into her eyes, then blanky nodded.

“I get so scared,” He said softly as he moved his face closer to MC’s chest.

“Of what?” She began to undo his tie, trying to work with his limp upper body which was falling into hers.

“I get scared of you going out one night and never speaking to me again.” He slurred.

MC rubbed his cheek with her thumb, caressing every tiny bump that stood on his skin.

“You know I’d never do that.”

“A guy could try something.”

His speech was so slurred, almost unable to be understood. MC knew there wouldn’t be any use in trying to argue with a drunk man, so she took her hand from off his face then embraced him.

“I love you.” She whispered.

“Me too.”

MC looked down, his face was buried into her chest, creating a warmth in between them.

“Come on, let’s go to sleep.” MC softly said as she moved him to lay down on the bed.

[trashyswitch]

The Underrated Upside Of Being a Giant

_Patton is enjoying looking after the tiny sides, but is beginning to wish he was a tiny side himself. Why must he be the tall one, when being tiny sounds so much more fun? Soon, Virgil decides to help Patton see the fun side of being a giant.

This prompt was suggested by @unabashedcalzoneflowermaker. I hope you enjoy!

Patton didn’t really know how to react when he saw some of the sides becoming incredibly small. It was actually quite funny at first. Just a bunch of tiny sides running around the house and climbing everyday household objects was just hilarious to Pat! He felt the need to help them up different items, and even petted their heads like the sides were tiny puppies! As time went on, Patton and the other giant sides started to realize this wasn’t gonna be a ‘one week’ thing, and that they needed to start helping the tiny sides get a few new beds and a new general home ready for them. With Logan’s smarts and Janus’s surprising ability to work with tools, they all managed to come up with a temporary living space for the tiny sides that wasn’t annoyingly tall for them.

One day, Patton had gotten up and walked up to the small bed that he made for Virgil out of some household items. When he looked at the tiny side, he noticed that Virgil was sleeping on his back with his blanket only covering up 30% of his body. Patton, believing he might be getting cold, brought the blanket up to Virgil’s chest and tucked him in.

...Only for Virgil to kick the blanket off himself.

Patton covered up his mouth to prevent himself from giggling too loudly and waking him up. When he calmed himself down enough, Patton looked around at the items that Virgil had collected over the weeks of being tiny. He observed the pompom pile he had, the necklace chains he put up as decorations, the bottom of a sharpener that he was using as a bedside table, a small treasure box he was using for some of his treasures, and a small white feather that was the side of his bed.

Patton picked up the feather that was lying down beside the bed, and brought the feather up to Virgil’s head. With a careful but quick swipe, Patton managed to get the feather under his shirt and started fluttering it back and forth against his belly. Virgil started to smile and giggle softly in his sleep. Patton smiled as his heart swelled up, and resumed fluttering the feather. Virgil’s smile grew teeth and his giggles grew less mumbly and more clear to hear. “Viiiirrrrrrgiiiiil…” Patton softly called as he continued to flutter the feather. “You gonna wake up?” Patton asked softly.

Virgil giggled more and more, and started waving the feather away with his hands. But he wasn’t actually covering up his belly or rolling over. Patton found that quite an adorable sight. Patton moved the feather down a little and specifically focused on his belly button.

Virgil squealed and woke himself up. His eyes were wide and his teeth were so visible, you could count each and every one of them! Patton smiled. “Coochy coochy coo, sleepyhead!” Patton teased.

Virgil bursted out laughing and squirmed around. Patton giggled as well, enjoying the scene. But Virgil quickly pulled the feather out from under his shirt. “Hey! That’s my feather!” Virgil reacted, reaching a hand up. Patton giggled and gave it back to him. Virgil got the feather back and gave it a nice big hug. Then, Virgil placed the feather beside his bed and reached his hands up. “Pick me up?” Virgil asked.

Patton nodded. “Of course!” Patton picked Virgil up on his palm and carried him to the house he was living in.

In the house, were other sides such as: Remus and Roman. Why they were tiny as well, no one could really explain. All they knew was that they now shared a big, 3 bedroom mansion.

...It was actually a dollhouse, but don’t worry about it.

Patton placed Virigl into his dollhouse room and then walked back out to the kitchen. In one quick trip, Patton fixed up Virgil’s bed and placed Virgil’s bed into his dollhouse room. He walked away again for a minute or two, and came back with all his tiny treasures. “Why don’t you hang these up in your new bedroom?” Patton asked.

Virgil nodded and grabbed the stuff one by one. He started completely putting together his dollhouse room, while Patton sat on his own bed and sighed. Patton looked at his own hands and just how big they were compared to the dollhouse. Why had Patton remained so big? He didn’t understand. He had been waiting patiently for himself to become small just like them. But...It never happened.

The truth is, Patton really wanted to be small like Virgil and Roman. He wanted to collect small treasures that would be considered huge for him, and he wanted to have his own room in the dollhouse. It sounded like a fun time and a worth-while experience.

“Patton? You okay?” Someone asked in front of him. It was Virgil, holding one of Patton’s big flowers for him. Patton gave Virgil a small smile and picked up Virgil with the flower. He placed the man and his flower onto the bed and looked down at him. “Being tiny looks very fun.” Patton admitted. “I wish I was tiny too.”

Virgil frowned softly. He put the flower down onto the bed and hugged Patton’s wrist. “It’s okay that you’re big. Being big can be fun too.” Virgil told him.

Patton looked at him with a slightly agitated face. “What’s so fun about being big and average sized?” Patton asked.

“You’re a very fun jungle gym!” Roman told him happily from the dollhouse. “You’re great for climbing on, and you also seem to not mind!” Roman added.

Patton couldn’t help but giggle at that brief explanation and looked at the dollhouse. “I don’t mind at all. In fact, I like watching you climb all over me and the furniture.” Patton told him.

“Exactly!” Roman reacted before returning to making his bed.

Patton’s smile dropped a little. “...It makes me wish I could climb someone too. It sounds like a super fun activity.” Patton told him, his mood slowly dropping back down.

Virgil’s smile dropped a little as well. He looked down at the edge of the bed before looking up at Patton. “Want me to be honest?” Virgil asked.

Patton nodded.

“I wish I was in your shoes.” Virgil admitted. “There’s lots of things I would love experiencing again if I were a giant.” he told him.

Patton giggled and shook his head. “It’s really not as fun as you claim.” Patton told him.

“Well, there is one specific activity that makes me wish I was a giant surrounded by tinies:” Virgil told him.

Patton tilted his head in curiosity. “What is it?” Patton added.

“This:” Virgil started climbing up the back of Patton’s shirt and hopped up onto Patton’s shoulder. With his balance secured, Virgil had two of his fingers on the back of Patton’s neck.

“EEEEEhehehehehehe! Hehehehehehey!” Patton giggled, arching his back. Virgil climbed down his shoulder, and shoved his hand inside Patton’s armpit. “WAHAHAHAIT!” Patton fell backwards and flopped onto his back. Virgil flew down with him, and quickly gained his composure.

Virgil ran onto Patton’s belly and started crawling and skittering his fingers onto Patton’s belly. “Giants get tons of tickles from their tiny friends!” Virgil told him.

“aaAAAH! VIHIHIHIRGIHIHIHIHIL! COHOHOME OHOHOHOHON!” Patton laughed.

Patton squealed and did all he could to not curl around and squish Virgil. And just to be safe, Virgil kept his eye on how close he would get to the edge of his belly, so he wasn’t squished or injured in the process.

Virgil crawled himself up Pat’s soft ab muscles and summoned an ‘On The Go’ keychain mini massager. The tiny side turned on the spider-looking device and started massaging Patton’s front ribs. “HAHAHAHAHAHA- EEEEEEEHEHEHEHE!” Patton squealed and laughed. Patton had started kicking his legs wildly while holding his own shaking head with his hands. His ribs were a really bad spot and it was taking EVERYTHING in him to not roll around like a goof!

Virgil brought the massager over to Patton’s ab muscles and was eager to try it out on there as well! To make the tickles a little more intense, Virgil set up the massager before sitting on it! Then, the tiny evil being just let the massager vibrate and tickle him wherever it wanted to go!

“WHAHAHAHAT THEHEHEHEHE- WHYHYHYHYHYHY?!” Patton asked, looking at the tiny side with a confused expression.

Virgil giggled at this reaction and shrugged his shoulders. “Does it tickle? Is this dang massager just too ticklish on your abs?” Virgil teased. Virgil’s voice was vibrating along with the massager, making his voice sound silly. This made Patton laugh even more!

Amidst his laughing, Patton nodded his head up and down quickly as he fought the instinctual urges to hold his belly. Patton even compromised if curling in was too much action! He desperately didn’t wanna hurt him and went to great lengths to make sure Virgil would come out of the tickle attack completely unscathed!

To give Patton a breather, Virgil picked up the massager and moved it to his side. His sides were a lot less ticklish than his belly, which was good in this scenario. Patton just allowed himself to giggle freely while he slowly calmed down. “Thahahahank yohohohou. Ihihihi neheheeded thahahat.” Patton said politely.

“You’re welcome. But I’m not quite done yet.” Virgil warned. “I wanna give you a break for a bit before I go full force.” He added.

Patton blinked in growing fear before biting his lip nervously. When was Virgil gonna throw him into hysterics? Now? Later? How later? Will he wait a week? A month? Well, he wouldn’t wait a month. That would be ridiculous. Virgil might be big again by then!

Suddenly, before he knew it: Virgil had gotten up and summoned his feather decoration from the dollhouse. With the feather now in hand, Virgil was ready to tickle Patton like he’d never been tickled before.

Well...try to, at least…

Virgil headed to Patton’s big belly button and immediately dipped his feather into it. Then, he started fluttering the feather inside his belly button.

“aaAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! VIHIHIRGAHAHAHAHAL! IHIHI’M NAHAHAT REHEHEHEADYHYHYHY FOHOHOHOR THAHAHAHAT!” Patton reacted.

Virgil tsked. “Pat, I’m pretty sure no one is ever ready to be tickled with no mercy.” Virgil replied.

Then, Virgil started spinning the feather round and round and round like a witches’ stick in a cauldron. This ended up causing tons more squeals and laughter to leave Patton’s mouth.

“NAHAHAHAT MYHYHYHY BEHEHELLYHY BUHUHUHUTTOHOHON! PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEASE! IHIHIHIT’S TOHOHOHOHO TIHIHIHICKLIHIHIHISH!” Patton begged.

“Funny how such a tiny little button...something I could probably sit in, could be so ticklish. Isn’t the human body strange?” Virgil reacted rather calmly.

...Too calmly...

Virgil continued to ‘stir his pot of laughter’ and enjoy the pretty music that was Patton’s laugh. Patton was squeezing his arms against his chest and doing all he could to not squirm around too much. It was growing more and more harder though, the longer he was being mercilessly tickled.

As he tickled though, Virgil started to wonder if he actually COULD fit into Patton’s belly button. Was he really small enough? Or is he just a little too big?

Eager to find out, Virgil placed the feather aside and started crawling himself in.

“What are- OHOHOHO NOOOOHOHOHOHOHO! WHYHYHYHYHYHY?!” Patton asked.

Virgil didn’t reply and just continued to dig himself into Pat’s navel. Patton was starting to squirm more and more as he dug in. “IHIHIHIT TIHIHIHICKLEHEHEHES SOHOHO MUHUHUHUCH!” Patton laughed.

Virgil popped his head out. “I know it does. But is it worse than your ribs? Or are you just being a bit dramatic?” Virgil teased before going back in.

“IHIHIT’S WOHOHORSE! IHIHIHIHIHIT’S SOHOHO MUHUHUHUCH WOHOHOHOHORSE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Patton shouted back.

Virgil giggled a little and hopped out of Pat’s navel. Then, Virgil laid his back and butt right into the navel and chilled out in Pat’s navel like a pool float. “This is surprisingly quite comfy!” Virgil joked.

Patton started to slowly calm down. He was panting rather hard, and was just laying there in exhaustion. “Ihihi...Ohoho gohohosh…ohboy...heheh…” Patton panted and giggled.

Virgil looked up to Pat’s chin. “You okay?” Virgil asked him.

Patton nodded his head. “Uh…*huff* *Huff* Uh-huh...uh huh.” Patton replied with a bit of patience needed.

Virgil smiled and wiggled his butt further into his kitty pool-sized navel. Patton’s giggles increased a little more while he wiggled around and snuggled in. And with Virgil comfy, Patton was able to return to regular old panting.

Patton laid there for a good while with Virgil just chilling in his belly button. Though his breathing tickled his navel a teeny bit, Patton didn’t really mind this. It was actually a little fun to have a tickle monster that’s a little bigger than a bug, just chilling out on you. Even if chilling out, meant laying in your super ticklish belly button.

After a while, Virgil got back up and climbed onto his shirt. When he reached Patton’s collar bone, Virgil gave Patton as big a hug as he could muster. Patton happily hugged him back and petted his back.

“Being a giant can be really fun. So, I want you to enjoy being the lee for as long as you can, before you shrink down and become the ler.” Virgil concluded.

Patton nodded. “I promise.”

The truth is, Patton could see that Virgil was right: there is one good thing about being a giant. Perhaps there are other good things that Patton hasn’t really considered yet. Maybe Patton will be able to enjoy being a giant for a while before it becomes his turn to become the tiny one.

Only time can tell when that’ll happen.

______________________________________________________________

I have a bit of bad news. I started experiencing some chills, headaches and extreme fatigue. So, I got a covid test and I have to wait to see if it's positive or negative. While I wait, I have to be quarantined. Soooo...let's see how my touched-starved self handles this.

But the good news is, I might be able to get more fanfics done. So, I'll probably be writing more and more fanfics to busy myself and prevent myself from meltdowns. So, I'll update you all on how I'm doing/the results in a couple days.

[rhysismydaddy]

The Bodyguard pt. 4 (Elorcan)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Surprise at the end ;)

______________________________________________________________

Elide’s leg bounced uncontrollably as she sat at the breakfast table, staring at Lorcan, who just stared back, stern face looking unaffected.  

After last night, she felt like things had changed between them. Whether he wanted to acknowledge it or not. 

She’d kissed him. 

And even though he said it was just the adrenaline and shock, deep in her head, she knew that was bullshit. She’d been attracted to him since the first time she’d seen him. Last night she’d only acted on the impulse. 

But he hadn’t kissed her back. 

He definitely didn’t seem mad about it, but he sure as hell didn’t react like she would have wished. And ever since, it hadn’t exactly been awkward, but it was sure as hell different. 

Especially since she’s seen a different side of him when he’d taken care of her. His usually hard exterior had cracked enough to let her in, and it made her feel a little differently about him. In a really, almost disturbingly good way. 

“I think we should get out of the city,” Lorcan said, snapping her out of her train of thought. 

“And go where?”

He shrugged, but it didn’t look that casual. “I have a cabin. And it has enough security measures to let us know if someone’s coming.”

“Do you think that’s necessary?”

A dark look crossed his face. “Last time you asked me that, it didn’t end up well for either of us.”

She should’ve known he’d bring that up. Asshole. Even if he was right. “But what about my job?”

“Can’t you take a few days off?”

She could, but she never had before. Her schedule for next week was actually pretty blank and devoid of high-risk clients. Elide sighed. “When do we leave?”

“Twenty minutes.”

Her eyes bugged. “I haven’t even brushed my teeth. Or showered. Or packed!”

Lorcan just took a sip of his coffee. “Nineteen minutes.”

Sprinting to the bathroom, she cursed him soundly and flung herself in the shower. When she finally got packed and ready, she went back out to see him check his watch and shake his head. “That was twenty-three minutes, Elide.”

The way he said her name made her smile, even if he was teasing her. “Not all of us get up at five in the morning, Lorcan.”

He gave her a small smile, and she followed him out to the garage. Unsurprisingly, a jet black vintage sports car was in his spot. “Do you recognize you don’t own anything with color in it?”

Lorcan threw their bags in the back, then got in the driver’s seat. “Yes.”

Shaking her head, she got in the dark car’s dark interior and grinned. After turning on some old rock and buckling their seat belts, they were off. 

They drove out of the city quietly, getting through traffic surprisingly well. 

“How far away is this place?” she asked as he steered them through the suburbs, grimacing at all the white-picket fences they passed.

“About two hours.”

Oh, gods. 

What would they talk about for two hours? The only long conversation they’d had was last night, and it wasn’t exactly cheerful. She turned sideways in her seat, studying his profile, and an idea sparked.

“What’s your favorite color?”

Lorcan shot her a curious glance. “As you pointed out, I don’t own anything with color.”

“Just pick one, then.”

“Gray.” She should’ve seen that coming. A smile tugged at her lips as he sighed and asked, “What’s yours?”

Settling deeper into the warm seat, she replied, “Navy. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?”

He muttered something that sounded suspiciously like back to my apartment. “Are you going to do this the entire time?”

“Do what?” she asked, using a very innocent voice. 

She was surprised he could even talk with how deep his scowl was. “Therapy me.”

“Asking your favorite color and dream destination is not therapy, Mr. Salvaterre. I’d expect you to know that after a week of crashing my appointments.” Elide sighed dramatically. “But, yes. I’m going to do this the entire time. It’s my duty to society to therapy you until you give in and tell me everything about you.”

The scowl deepened, but there was a touch of humor in his steely gaze. 

~

When a large hand bumped Elide’s shoulder, she shot awake, eyes immediately finding Lorcan’s. 

“I fell asleep?”

“Mid question.” His lips twitched. “Started drooling everywhere.”

Her cheeks warmed at the teasing note in his voice, so she avoided dignifying that with a response. “Are we here?”

It seemed like a stupid question, but they were currently in the woods with nothing but trees around them. Lorcan nodded. “We have to walk the rest of the way.”

“And why, exactly, do you have this place?”

He shrugged, grabbing their bags and climbing out of the car. “It’s off the grid.”

Eyebrows high on her forehead, she got out, inhaling the smell of the forest around her. She hadn’t realized how long it had been since she’d gotten real fresh air that wasn’t polluted by chemicals and smog from the city. 

Lorcan chose not to breathe deeply and enjoy their surroundings. Shock. He just reached and pulled a deep green and brown tarp over his car. 

What the hell was this place? And why was he acting like they were going to war?

“You going to be okay to walk there?”

She nodded. 

After a year of PT and a few surgeries on her ankle, she walked normally. It still flared up with pain, and she’d probably be sore after hiking through the woods on such uneven ground, but she wasn’t about to make him carry her plus the bags.

Lorcan nodded, too. “It isn’t far.”

About thirty minutes and multiple breaks later, Elide was wondering what the hell far would look like to this man. He strode through the forest, glaring at the plants and greenery around him if they dared to get in his way. 

Elide, on the other hand, struggled to keep up and was practically gasping for air as a small, wooden cabin finally came into view. 

“Oh, bless all that’s holy,” she cried. “We’re here.”

Lorcan glanced down at her, amusement and a twinge of concern on his face. He wasn’t even sweating, the insufferable bastard. “Are you alright?”

“I’m perfectly fine,” she wheezed. 

“Stay here for a minute,” he commanded, then strode towards the house, taking a very specific route. 

In fact, they’d done that the entire way here. He’d ordered her not to step certain places, touch certain trees, and a ton of other bizarre things she’d written off as coincidence. 

He disappeared inside the house for a minute, then a soft click sounded around her. 

“You’re good,” he called out.

Eyes narrowing, she walked up the creaky stairs of the house and inside. It was a little dusty, but everything seemed to be in working condition. “What was that all about?”

“Security measures.”

Vague. Unless... “Oh my gods, are there bombs under the ground?”

He gave her a wolfish smile as he nodded. “And pressure sensors to alert me if there’s anyone out there. And cameras. And trip wires.”

“And I’m guessing all the stairs and floorboards creak.” 

He looked a little impressed. “They do. We’re safe here.”

“Seems so.”

“You can have the room upstairs; I’ll stay down here. It’s up and to the right.”

Elide nodded, going up the very creaky stairs to find a small bedroom with furniture somehow even simpler than what he had in his apartment. A bathroom was attached, and she was ridiculously sweaty after their hike, so she got in, happily surprised when the water was clear and hot. 

When she’d wasted enough time in there, she got out and put on a large, floppy shirt and leggings.

She went back downstairs to find Lorcan in the kitchen, pulling out cans and preserves and setting them on the counter. “We have enough food for two weeks.”

Two weeks? She couldn’t stay here for two weeks. 

She told herself it was because she didn’t want to miss work, not because she didn’t trust herself around her housemate. Two weeks alone with Lorcan, in the middle of nowhere... Elide was sure she’d do something to embarrass herself.

Like kiss him again. 

Pushing that thought away, she slid on the leather sofa and pulled her foot in her lap to rub her ankle. It didn’t hurt, but it would be tight as hell tomorrow if she didn’t massage it a little. 

Suddenly the couch dipped and Lorcan settled on the opposite side. He looked her over, then waved a hand. Surprised, she swung her leg over and put her feet on his lap. 

Elide made a small noise as his thumbs started to massage her ankle, and she blushed as he looked up at her. “Does it hurt?”

She shook her head, suddenly unable to talk with his hands on her.

The memory of their kiss drifted through her mind. He’d been so stoic when she brushed her lips over his, and it had happened so quickly she wondered if she’d made it all up. But afterward, when he’d kissed her scar... that had been anything but stoic. 

His dark eyes were on her, and she could tell he was thinking about last night, too. Maybe she wasn’t crazy. 

His hands stilled, so she moved to pull her leg back, but he shook his head and held them on his lap. “Elide.”

He’d only said her name, but her breathing started coming faster. 

Lorcan leaned closer, and she realized with a start she was moving towards him, too. Their lips touched, just as softly as the first time. “Elide.”

She kissed him again, just the barest brush of her lips against his. “Lorcan.”

And for the first time since she’d met him, he smiled. 

It was a big, beautiful smile she doubted anyone saw frequently, and it made her want to kiss him again. So she did. 

He leaned forward until she was tucked under him, his big body pressed against hers. And just like the other times he’d been like this, she could feel every part of him against her. 

But this time, she felt it with her hands, too. 

They drifted over his shoulders, down his back, across his abs. She smiled as the muscles constricted under her touch, and he took the kiss deeper, his tongue coming to meet hers. 

She moaned softly into his mouth, hands finding their way into his dark hair and pulling it out of its usual bun, finding it surprisingly soft. 

His hands were on her face, cradling her softly, but moved down her shoulders and sides, thumbs barely brushing the sides of her breasts. Elide arched into his touch, but he kept it light, almost teasing. 

Until he gripped one of her thighs and pulled it around his hips, settling in between them and pressing himself against her. 

A gasp escaped her at how just that little moment of contact had sent tingles over her entire body. 

Lorcan kissed across her jaw, down her throat, stopping to suck at certain places. She’d never imagined she’d do anything like this. Had always figured she wasn’t capable of feeling lust after everything that had happened to her. 

And now her body was very politely telling her how wrong she’d been. 

She was on fire underneath him, burning with something she’d never felt before. Lust was unfurling inside her, and she wanted every part of him.

But as his hands drifted under her t-shirt, fingertips meeting the soft skin of her stomach, she pulled back. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately, eyes finding hers. 

She looked down, suddenly embarrassed. “I, um.. I have a lot of scars.”

Gripping her chin softly, Lorcan brought her gaze to meet his, and his features were filled with understanding. “So do I.”

It was such a simple statement, but it meant everything to her. He’d been through unspeakable things, just like her. But he wasn’t ashamed. And... she shouldn’t be either.

So she nodded, reached down, and pulled her shirt over her head. 

His dark eyes drifted over her, taking in her curves, the plain bra covering them. The scars. His expression never once showed anything but desire. 

“You’re beautiful,” he told her softly. “And I’m going to fucking prove it to you.”

She didn’t know what that meant, but figured out his intentions quickly as he leaned down to brush his lips over her shoulder where a thin white scar rested. 

He took his time kissing it, then moved down her arm to another imperfection. 

And another, then another after that. 

Until she couldn’t remember why she hated them, why she’d been embarrassed. He was worshiping them, silently telling her everything she’d ever wanted to hear. 

Then his hands slipped behind her back and unhooked her bra, and he worshiped her there, too. 

She squirmed underneath him, making an embarrassing amount of noises, but he didn’t seem to mind. 

Especially as he reached to pull the waistband of her leggings down just enough to expose the brand. 

Just like the night before, Lorcan leaned in and brushed a kiss over the mark. 

Then he kissed his way back up to her mouth and whispered, “Beautiful.”

She opened her mouth for him, and his tongue swept in. His hands went back to her waist, thumbs slipping in her leggings to start pulling them down. 

He stopped abruptly when a soft clicking noise sounded. Lorcan was on his feet in an instant, stooping to pick a device up off the floor and grimacing.

“Get dressed,” he growled, tossing her bra and shirt on her stomach very romantically. 

Elide threw her clothes on, getting up to walk over to where he was looking out the window, device in hand. “What’s wrong?”

His tense shoulders and set jaw told her it wasn’t good, but she wasn’t prepared at all for what she saw as she looked at the screen. 

She could make out a dark square with two blue dots--she assumed those represented the two of them in the house--in the middle of the woods. But what she wasn’t ready to see were the multiple red dots surrounding the place. 

There were at least fifteen of them, flickering to show they were getting closer. 

Lorcan looked down at the device, a cold, dark look coming over his features. “We’ve got company.”

______________________________________________________________

Today, ladies and gentlemen, is a special occassion: it’s @maastrash ‘s birthday! And for her birthday surprise... here’s part 5. 

@bamchickawowow @cursebreaker29 @girl-who-reads-the-books @aelinfeyreeleven945tbln @studyliketate @over300books @justgiu12 @maastrash @a-bit-of-a-cactus @ladywitchling @sjmships @superspiritfestival @stardelia @keshavomit @illyrianwitchling13 @lord-douglas-the-third @blackjacks-donuts @hufflebird89 @sensitiveillyrian @theoverlyenthusiasticwriter @towhateverend17 @empress-ofbloodshed @dottieadot @idontlikekale @se-ono-waise-ilia @tswaney17 @jlinez @wineywitch202 @aesthetics-11 @b00kworm @sleeping-and-books @musicmaam @savemesoon8 @hizqueen4life @maybekindasortaace

[polandspringz]

Request: something about Glory & Asmo vibing . maybe painting each others nails . ill pay u

I know you already got to read this when I finished it, but here you go!!!

Title: Always at the Right Place, at the Right Time

Summary:

Whenever Poland invited everyone to the Human World, there was never any actual obligation to hang out with her. At least not for Glory. Any adventure were moments reserved for them, the Avatar of Lust and the Avatar of Vainglory.

(This is set in my series involving my MC, “Designing in the Devildom”. AO3 Link will be posted in the notes)

Grass. The smell of flowery perfume, too strong and too tacky. It burned the throat and lungs like sugary cotton candy, but they were both immune to the taste by now. A picnic blanket spread over the land, flowers were crushed beneath their weight. They didn’t care. The sun shone down on a chilly spring day in the human realm. Glory held out his hand, and Asmo held it gently in his own as he applied nail polish across it carefully.

“Don’t mess up,” Glory huffed, “I have a date tonight.”

“Another commitment? And here I thought you cleared your whole day for me!”

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Why, darling, others do that for me,” Glory rolled his eyes at that, but it was all in good fun, no actual malice, “But, I won’t mess up. Although knocking your beauty down a peg would make me the prettiest in the three realms, I wouldn’t risk my beautician skills being slanders because I decided to be petty.”

“Good, cause if you mess up my nails I will douse you in acetone.”

The little brush moved across the nails, leaving gooey, light blue color behind. It was like liquid lipstick, squishy and shiny but as it dried it would harden into a perfect coating. The clear bottle of top coat rolled around on the picnic blanket as Asmo shifted, knocking into Glory’s knee. The color would be preserved, but protected underneath a thin layer of plastic and gloss.

“You’ve been different lately,” Glory blurted out. Asmo glanced up with surprise.

“What do you mean? Have I been even more beautiful?”

“No, and that’s just it. What you said earlier,” Glory rolled his free hand in the air as they gestured for something, “I’m used to you saying you’re the prettiest- which is false- but normally you don’t leave room for debate.”

Asmo finished the pinky finger, and then blew a soft puff of air over the whole hand before setting it back down on Glory’s thigh.

Glory didn’t like feelings. The only mushy stuff he cared about was makeup or textured fabrics of designer clothes that he knew would look great and help him show others up. But there was a distant look clouding Asmo’s eyes. He was smiling but his mind was elsewhere. He just sat there for a moment, leaning on his knees after he closed up the blue polish and set it down beside them.

Glory couldn’t help but notice the ugly pact mark that decorated Asmo’s skin, the bright pink ring that tattooed his skin, staining his neck, just visible underneath the collar. It seemed to pulsate when Glory stared at it, taunting him.

It disgusted him. He would die before he ever made a pact with any human.

Glory let out a scoff and sat back, tapping Asmo forcefully on the shoulder to knock him back to reality, “You’ll give yourself wrinkles if you keep a face like that. If you turn any uglier than you already are, I won’t hang around you anymore.”

Asmo let out a hearty laugh, his whole body radiant in the sunlight. He reached for the clear polish and shook the bottle as he let himself settle down. When he looked towards Glory’s other hand to inspect the nails, his eyes were brighter again, but also all too knowing. 

Glory never needed to say much, Asmo was the best at picking up on the emotions people liked to hide. He could see right through him, but it was still nice of Glory to try and say something to make Asmo feel better. It was all the more genuine when said in his own Glory-way.

**

The balloons bumped into one another and the strings tangled as they were pulled through the wind and down the street. Two sets of shoes clattered and scraped against the sidewalk as the two ran along the tiny shops of downtown.

Asmo spun around, the balloons swinging with him as Glory rushed passed, taking the other demon's hand as they continued running. They hadn’t stolen anything and weren’t being chased, but there was something different about the human world. The air and the way everything was so colorful and bright as light bounced off everything, from puddles to windows of glass. The way life and the scents of the city were carried on the breeze. It was like Devildom but better.

The two of them stepped off the curb to cross the street, Glory’s heel clicking on the edge of the curb as he skipped forward.

He wished he could stay here forever.

**

Flashes of a camera interrupted the darkness of the night. The human realm’s night sky was much darker than Devildom’s artificial one, turning completely black even though it was only nine p.m. Glory lowered the polaroid that Poland had let her borrow, and Asmo scampered to take the developing photo from her. Slowly, the image of Asmo holding pink and blue cotton candy formed itself against the golden ferris wheel lights that spun against the black sky.

It was summer now. Poland had invited them all back to her world to visit a fair. Apparently this was a yearly thing where she used to live. It was a little crowded, a little too noisy and full of snot-nosed kids, but there were rides and there was food and strange human world entertainment. Most of it didn’t appeal to Glory, besides using the place as a backdrop for new Devilgram photos, but Asmo was coming with the rest of the brothers, and Diavolo was giving them a few extra days before they had to go back, and Glory would do anything to get out of the boring Devildom.

Poland must have noticed Glory’s disgust at the farm animals, stalls, and dirt paths when they first entered the fairgrounds, because Poland handed the camera over to her almost immediately. She had packed tons of film, handed a bunch of boxes full of starry, rainbow bordered packs that Glory could use to her heart’s content.

Half of the photos were already used up, littering the inside of the mini backpack Poland had given over to her. Random photos of people screaming on rides, humans running around or sitting under the tents. Seeing kids eat popcorn off the ground was gross, but taking pics as they tripped and ate shit and spilled popcorn all over the ground was fascinating. Before their group had split up, Lucifer had watched as Glory photographed the people in the historical tent, feeling the need to supervise the only demon not hiding her horns with magic in case she caused a ruckus.

“Based on your grades, I never suspected you would be interested in history,” he said smugly.

Glory focused on making sure the photo was tucked safely away and developing properly before shooting Lucifer a glare, flipping him off for good measure. The gasps of the historic actors had Lucifer flailing and shoving her hand down, dragging her away before she could cause anymore problems.

“Luce, wait!” Poland yelled, “You’re going to miss out on the old fashioned ice cream.”

Glory debated shouting out Lucifer’s full name, seeing if that would illicit anymore startled gasps from the old men and women sitting with bonnets by the display. That would make for a good picture too.

“Glory, let me take one of you now!” Asmo said, his fingers crawling around the camera as he tried to gently pry it out of her hands, “Go stand in front of that ride over there! The Himalaya!”

He pointed to a ride that was spinning at an unbelievably fast speed (for humans anyway), but it was flashy and colorful, which meant it would look wonderful blurred together, and there were so many humans waiting in the line, which would mean more people to preserve in her collection (she would have to invest in a scrapbook). She started to skip over, her boots digging into the clay, orange soil as the ride’s music was interrupted by a loud siren-like horn.

“Kolia, you stay back there with Belial!” Asmo waved to the other two members of their group. Kolia was the one suffering the most from the atmosphere of the fair. She only tagged along on the trip because it meant she got to see Poland again, but somehow she had gotten separated and nearly lost until she ran into Belial and the others outside a funnel cake stand.

Asmo hurried to take the photos as fast as the camera would allow, Glory striking a few poses and being tempted to take back the camera to snap the faces of the screaming riders behind her, but Asmo signaled the camera needed to be refilled with film and Glory had the bag so…

They rejoined the rest of their group.

“Where do you want to go now?” Asmo asked. Belial pointed towards the tents where all the vendors were in the middle of the fair grounds.

“I want to buy something. I saw shark tooth jewelry earlier.”

“Oh, and sand art!” Asmo chimed in.

“Do we have enough money? How much did Lucifer give us?” Kolia reached for her wallet.

“Hold on, hold on,” Glory mumbled as she finished snapping the new box of film inside the camera, “There! Good to go! Oh, wait a second-”

She leaned in and reached her arm around all of them, holding the camera up to snap what would become a very blurry selfie of them all.

“Alright, let's go!”

**

It was fall now. Glory sat on a bench surrounded by an expanse of orange colored leaves in the middle of a park. It was almost too picturesque, too cliche. Asmo had run off to get some warm drinks from the coffee shop down the street. It was getting cold again, the human realm had always felt so much colder than Devildom, but maybe that was just because of where Poland lived?

It was their last visit here before winter set in. Poland already had pulled a lot of strings to get the others to tag along on visits throughout the year, especially since she almost never seemed to invite Diavolo along. Glory wasn’t exactly sure what was up with that, maybe the Prince of Hell was just too busy, or maybe there was some sort of feud going on between them. It didn’t matter much to him though.

“I’m back!” Asmo said, walking up with the two, tall cups in either hand, “Sorry it took so long. They don’t have the drink you like here, so I had to improvise to get something similar.”

“That’s fine,” Glory said, plucking the cup from Asmo’s hand with just their finger and thumb on either side of it, “Probably would have tasted gross either way. Human food is bad.”

“Hey, you may have suffered through Solomon’s cooking over at Purgatory Hall, but that doesn’t mean everything from the human realm is bad,” Asmo chided, “Poland isn’t a great cook either, but there are tons of places all over this world with cute desserts and stuff.”

“A shame we won’t get to see them,” Glory sighed, popping the lid open and taking a sip.

Asmo stared at him for a moment before starting to get up, “I actually saw a shop selling some macaroons earlier! Let me go back and get them-”

Glory grabbed his sleeve to stop him.

“Stay,” they mumbled, avoiding eye contact, “We can go get some later.”

Asmo remained frozen for a moment, then slowly sat back down on the bench, “Alright then.”

They fell into an uncomfortable silence. They watched birds in the empty park peck at the ground, but it was far too hard and cold for their beaks to find anything beneath it. The carpet of leaves was rustled by the wind, a few brown leaves breaking off to dance in a violent circle, their dried and dead edges scratching against the concrete and making a grating rhythm to the ears.

“It’s only going to be until the spring, you know that, right?” Asmo asked, “It’s not a long time for a demon.”

“It’s a long time for me because I can’t come and go as I please.”

“You… like the human world now, don’t you? I thought with how you always were ignoring Poland, you didn’t like coming here.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea, I only come here to hang with you. Poland is just… well she’s convenient, she’s just my ticket for a new hangout spot. I just didn’t expect to find other humans so interesting.”

“They are interesting, aren’t they?” Asmo laughed behind his hand, “They’re so funny to tempt-”

“-to trip up-”

“-to trick-”

“-to observe-”

“-and to love,” Asmo finished, a deep sigh escaping him as he leaned back against the bench, watching his breath rise with the steam of the drink, mixing together in the air. Glory watched him confused, and although Asmo was wearing a thick scarf, Glory’s eyes shot to where he knew that marking was over his neck.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Glory crossed his arms, setting the drink down on the bench, “But I’m just annoyed because I don’t like being restricted. I don’t care what’s going on with Diavolo and your brothers and Poland and everyone else. It’s stupid of them to restrain us from coming to this realm whenever we want.”

“You could always walk through the eight layers if you really wanted to get here-”

“You know I would never do that to myself. Horrible idea.”

“It’s just a thought,” Asmo shut his eyes, “I might traverse it if Lucifer lets me. I’m sure I won’t be the only one rushing back up here. Poland has a fashion show in January. I might come see it.”

Glory didn’t respond. They just sat and stared at the city skyline rising just behind the trees at the edge of the park. Eventually, Asmo leaned his head on Glory’s shoulder, his hands unknotting Glory’s posture as he pulled Glory’s hands in his. He cracked open his eyes just a bit as he brushed his fingers along the old polish, humming when he noticed the chips.

“You should let me do your nails again. Or give you a makeover. We’ll have so much time in the winter to hang out. Nothing will change.”

Glory sighed again, and shut his eyes and let his head bonk against the top of Asmo’s gently.

He was right afterall. Nothing would change.

**

It was winter. Snow was not really a Devildom “thing” but Glory was certain they would be seeing some in the coming days because Diavolo had a knack for using whatever magic he could harness to simulate as much of the human world as he could. Glory had holed themselves up in the bedroom at Purgatory Hall, sitting on the window seat as they watched the moon outside.

Simeon and Solomon were in the courtyard, doing something with Luke. While teasing the young angel did give Glory some entertainment, they really weren’t in the mood right now. They had gone over to the House of Lamentation to hang with Asmo, but realized they had forgotten he had skipped off to the Human World for Poland’s fashion show. Glory had been invited, but had declined because nothing was being made easy through the use of seals, and they had no idea why Asmo would ever want to torture himself taking the footpath there.

So, now they were alone.

Meaning things had changed.

Belial and Kolia were probably downstairs, Kolia holed up in her room no doubt surrounded by books, ugh. But there was no one to compete with or talk aimlessly with. They supposed they could just go outside and steal Simeon aside, the angel was always too polite to decline even if he wasn’t really interested in the things being said, but that sort of genuine disinterest they would sense from him would just continue to make things boring.

They missed Asmo. He hadn’t even painted their nails before they left.

Whatever, they could do it themselves. If only they could find the energy to move.

Glory knew the human world would be unreasonably cold and snowy and blustery right now, and that was no place for demons, but it would be better than the mundane, boring days full of RAD classes that would continue to stretch on for the rest of their eternity. They still didn’t really understand the point of the academy, just knew that if they didn’t attend it Diavolo would probably rear his true nature and execute them for treason or something.

Glory sighed again, something they had been doing a lot since the seasonal depression set in, and got up finally to move back over to their bed. If they were leaving their room that meant getting dressed up, and although they were the Avatar of Vainglory they weren’t feeling the need to fulfill their sin right now. Instead, they flopped over on their bed, face first as they let themselves sink into the blankets, their mind aimlessly drifting through thoughts but never clinging to one.

At some point, they fell asleep.

And were abruptly woken when Asmo crashed into their bedroom from a portal breaking through time and space.

“Asmo, what the fuck?” Glory sat up, rubbing their eyes.

The demon stood up from the floor and brushed himself off, reaching a hand out to Glory immediately as he kept the portal open behind him.

“Hi! Guess I got the teleporting right! Anyway, you need to come with me to the human world, right now.”

“What? I’m not dressed, why?”

“Poland needs another model for her fashion show! It starts in an hour and one of the models broke their ankle. Come on, we have to go!”

Asmo was pulling Glory out of bed, tugging them towards the portal.

“What? Hold on, is this another seal?” They pointed at the portal, “When did you get this?”

“Poland has one for emergencies. Come on!”

Glory was tossed through the portal with Asmo, popping out on the other side. They opened their eyes as the remnants of the seal disintegrated in Asmo’s hand. He shook off the dust before pushing open the door to a backstage area. There were models milling about, people running around holding bundles of fabric and palettes of makeup. Peeking out from behind the curtain, Glory could see flowers covering the walls, real flowers pasted from floor to ceiling all the way through the maze that had been set up for the runway.

Poland rushed by, nearly missing them as she talked into a headset and carried a dress she was still beading. Asmo caught her arm and froze her in her tracks.

“Wonderful! You’re here!” Poland’s face lit up as she shoved the dress to one of the (Glory presumed) assistants, “Let’s get your makeup done right away!”

They both started to guide Glory to one of the vanities, but they dug their heels in and turned around, “Wait, wait, wait. I’m all in for this but, Asmo, how are we getting back to Devildom if the seal broke? I’m not walking all the way back. Do you even know the entrance to how to get back?”

“I don’t have another seal,” Poland said, “That was for emergencies. Guess this just means you’ll have to stay with me until the others can come pick you up?”

“It will take me a few days to get back home on foot,” Asmo laughed, “If you’re insistent about waiting for another portal home, then that would probably give you a good week or so before Diavolo and Lucifer come to drag you back.”

Glory mulled it over for a moment, really not liking the idea of being stuck living with Poland for a few days, but then Poland flagged down someone who was walking by with the rolling rack, picking a hanger off it to show.

“This is what you’ll be wearing, by the way!”

Glory stared in awe as Poland continued, twisting the fabric of the outfit and pulling more accessories off the top of the rack, “...and so you’ll be the beginning and the end of the show, wearing this at the start and then coming back out at the end to transform it by tugging these pieces off. Oh, and then you’ll be the one to walk out with me at the very end because that’s when the designer normally does their walk- uh, is this all okay?”

“Perfect,” Glory grinned, sitting down in the chair, “Asmo, you need to redo my nails while I start the makeup. You owe me after all.”

“Of course!” He chimed, shooing the cosmetologist away as he found a bottle of polish from inside the makeup kit.

“Um, are you really going to be able to do their nails while they’re moving their hands so much?” Poland asked doubtfully.

“Just leave us, love. You interrupting will be the more likely cause of a disaster if anything.”

“Just trust us,” Asmo said, softening the blow.

Poland didn’t mind. She just shrugged and walked off, wheeling the rack away as she went to manage the rest of the show’s set-up. Glory ignored the stares from the models next to them, as there was no way they were hiding their horns tonight. Grabbing a beauty blender and a bottle of foundation, they smiled wickedly in the mirror at their and Asmo’s reflections.

“We’ve got this.”

“We’ve got this.”

And they set to work.

[smilesastrology]

The Signs & Venus ♀️& Mars ♂️

The Love Planets ❤️

Venus is the planet of love and attraction. Venus is like a beautiful object that you could just sit and stare at and admire all day but Mars is like what you do with that beautiful object and what you are willing to do for that beautiful object to make them happy and feel loved.

Venus is what you love, while Mars is how you love.

Venus in Aries ♈- You love very passionately and can be impulsive when it comes to your desires. You love a person who knows what they want and doesn't waste time to make you their partner for life. You seek someone who can handle their own but are also willing to join you on the adventure of a lifetime. You want someone who's willing to take risks for you because you will gladly do the same for them.

Mars in Aries ♈- You will go the distance for the one you love. You are driven, passionate and extremely motivated to do all you can for the one you love. If the one you love was stuck in an unlikely situation you would do everything to try and help get them out of it and lead them to greatness. You would jump in the ocean for them and save them from drowning because that's how far you would go for the one you love. You would even pawn your possessions just so you could have money to take care of the one you love. You also will always make sure the one you love is happy and taken care of.

Venus in Taurus ♉- You love pretty shiney things that look beautiful and also hold high value. You seek someone who is willing to cuddle up with you and eat junk food in bed with you at any hour of the day. You love to feel safe and comfortable with someone you trust and adore who also makes you laugh. You want someone who is beautiful but also a great person on the inside too.

Mars in Taurus ♉- You are the type of person who always makes sure the one you love is safe and warm. You will always plan nice dinners and you love to see the one you love happy and fed. You are a huge cuddler who also will plan movie nights designed specifically for the one you loves interests and also don't mind sitting through multiple romantic comedies. You love being in love and spending the day with that special someone.

Venus in Gemini ♊- You love to talk and seek someone who also adores conversation as much as you do. You seek someone who will pick up the phone no matter what time it is just so you can hear each other's voices. You also seek someone who loves to laugh and have fun. You seek a playful companion who will constantly make you feel joy. You may love to send each other a ton of emoji filled pictures just to make each other laugh.

Mars in Gemini ♊- When you love you treat them like your best friend and your soulmate. You are constantly finding awesome things to share with them as well as complimenting them like crazy. You are the type of person to take your love on a date outside and might even just like hanging out with them in the car alone. You also might be the person who uses a ton of cheesy awesome pick up lines in order to make them smile.

Venus in Cancer ♋- You love the sweet, soft, gooey person who is nothing but kind and generous. You seek someone with good family values who also is close to their Mom. You want someone who will take care of you and make you their soulmate for life. You want a kind hearted person who is extremely loyal.

Mars in Cancer ♋- You are probably a huge romantic who loves to do sweet things for your partner. You probably are a hard-working individual who's soul purpose at work is to provide for their family. You also are very family-oriented and love the idea of a ton of kids with the one you love. You also probably love anniversaries and taking romantic vacations with your honey.

Venus in Leo ♌- You want someone who will shower you with love and attention. You want that person to spoil you with thoughtful gifts and sweet compliments that make you smile all day. You want someone who will always have your back and who you catch gazing at you with admiration because they value your worth so much. You want someone who will always find you attractive even when you both are old and gray.

Mars in Leo ♌- You are the kind of person who gives the best gifts. You will literally plan weeks in advance a special day just for the one you love. You will also throw special surprise parties just to make the one you love know how important they are to you. You also love to protect the one you love because you are their knight in shining armour. You will go to the ends of the earth for the one you love because they are your king/queen of the world.

Venus in Virgo ♍- You love someone who is smart, sophisticated and loves to make you feel appreciated. You seek someone who will surprise you with thoughtful gifts and tell you how glad they are to have you in their life. You want someone who will propose to you in a creative crossword puzzle and who will also treat you with kindness and respect.

Mars in Virgo ♍- You are the type of thoughtful person who will go over every little detail and make sure it's perfect just to see the one you love smile. You always remember important dates and the one you loves favorite things. You are the type of person who will surprise the one you love at work with their favorite snacks and drinks. You also love to write them little notes so they know how amazing they are and how much you love them.

Venus in Libra ♎- You love relationships an admre the value of a relationship. You seek a partner for life, someone you can marry and settle down with and then retire somewhere extravagant just the two of you. You want a person who is willing to do anything and everything for you and will most importantly put you and your relationship over work or anything else. You also love a romantic person who spoils you with roses and chocolate.

Mars in Libra ♎- You will go above and beyond for the one you love. You love to make them feel like they are the only person on Earth. You constantly tell them how much you love them. You love to bring home gifts from the store and love to call them on your way home from work just to see if they need anything. You are a 1 soulmate kind of person and is super proud to have a partner for life as your husband/wife.

Venus in Scorpio ♏- You want someone who isn't afraid today watch scary movies with you. You seek a person who loves to listen to the police scanner with you late at night and then go check the crime scene. You love a person who is loyal and treats you like their special little secret. You want a ride or die kind of person who makes you feel number 1 and also who loves to point out scams with you. You want someone who will be there for you on your darkest days and bring you back to the light again.

Mars in Scorpio ♏- You will go the ends of the earth for the one you love. You will be there for your soulmate no matter what mood they are in and no matter what they are going through you will be there holding their hand or letting them throw things. You are a ride or die kind of person. You are the type of person who likes to plan quiet nights alone with your love usually at night. You love to be the calm in the storm who makes the one you love feel like the greatest person to exist.

Venus in Sagittarius ♐- You want someone who is carefree and who will be the sunshine on your cloudy day. You want someone who will make you smile and who values intelligence in a person. You seek a partner in crime who loves to go on adventures with you.

Mars in Sagittarius ♐- You love to make your partner feel good about themselves. You are constantly building them up with compliments, impressions from their favorite movie, and basically any funny thing you can think of. You are the type of person who loves to have inside jokes with your guy/gal. You also love to take them on hikes to a beautiful scenic spot.

Venus in Capricorn ♑- You want someone who will take you seriously. You want someone who is a good listener and a generous person. You love someone who is hard-working and appreciates you. You seek someone who is loyal and will also be there for you, your friends and your family too. You want a supportive, respectful soulmate.

Mars in Capricorn ♑- You love to treat your partner with class like a lady/gentleman. You are super respectful towards your love and absolutely think they are the most valuable rare find on the planet. You probably love to take them thrift store shopping and find new creative ways to express your love by wood art or by surprising them with beautiful engraved jewelry. You believe in your partners potential and love to help them accomplish their dreams.

Venus is Aquarius ♒- You seek a partner who loves to spend one on one time with you. You love a quiet person who wouldn't mind spending weeks away at a remote cabin in the woods surrounded by nature with you. You want a kind soul who believes in the future of tomorrow and who will be your best friend, loyal confidant and lover for life. You also love the cheesy romantic who you can be weird and yourself with.

Mars in Aquarius ♒- You love to make your partner feel relaxed and free by creating a calm environment for them to dance around like no one is watching. You love to just sit and play games with them and make them feel like a kid again. You probably would love to take them on a vacation to see the Nessie in Scotland in your matching sweaters after you both just took an awesome road trip visiting Area 51 while drinking some exotic drink out of crazy straws. You want to create a fun loving environment for you and your soulmate.

Venus in Pisces ♓- You want a sweet kindred spirit who makes you feel like you're their favorite person ever. You seek a dreamer with a heart of gold. You love the person who helps the elderly cross the street and who will listen music with you. You love someone who goes the extra mile for you.

Mars in Pisces ♓- You love to spoil your soulmate with candy. You also would probably bring them home a puppy or a kitten for their birthday. You love to make them feel special by selflessly putting them first and by making them smile with funny sound affects and fun music to listen too. You are extremely kind and thoughtful and are probably constantly telling your partner how beautiful they are. You also love to surprise them with food and note saying how much you love them.

And just for fun here are the top 5 ranked Mars Signs in bed:

#1. Mars in Aries

#2. Mars in Scorpio

#3. Mars in Gemini

#4. Mars in Sagittarius

#5. Mars in Taurus

And here are our 2 Honorable Mentions Mars signs!

#6. Mars in Libra

#7. Mars in Pisces

Enjoy! 😊